With Saudi state oil giant Aramco in discussions with the PIF sovereign wealth fund over buying a stake in state-petchems firm Sabic, questions are growing over the mechanics (MEES, 20 July 2018). PIF owns a 70% stake in the firm, which has a market cap of $100bn.
Plans are very much at an early stage, but if Aramco is to buy out all of PIF’s stake this would equate to $70bn, begging the question of how it would be financed. Bloomberg reported last week that Aramco is considering raising the funds through debt issuance. A potential $70bn bond would be by far the largest ever issued. (CONTINUED - 104 WORDS)