Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) has invited banks to apply for a financing advisory role to help in the sale of a significant minority stake in the company's gas pipelines, three sources told Reuters.
The sources said that the gas pipeline stake sale is Aramco's second-largest midstream deal following a $12.4 billion deal for oil pipelines.
This sale deal will be the same as the oil pipeline deal which is expected to be financed through bonds across two or three deals, with the first predicted in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, one of the sources announced.
The gas pipelines deal is also forecast to be financed with bonds, one of the sources said.
Two of the sources referred that Aramco has already selected Morgan Stanley for the merger and acquisition advisory role, while the financing advisory role is still open to banks.
In April 2021, Aramco has entered into a lease and lease-back agreement worth $12.4 billion (SAR 46.5 billion) with a consortium led by EIG Global Energy Partners to sell 49% equity of Aramco Oil Pipelines Company.
Previously, two sources told Reuters that the pipeline deal was supported by about $11 billion in debt, underwritten by eight banks and subsequently syndicated to an additional ten banks.
