Saudi Aramco hires banks for debut dollar sukuk sale

Saudi Aramco hires banks for debut dollar sukuk sale

Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest energy company, hired advisers including Citigroup Inc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc for its first dollar-denominated Islamic bond sale. The state-controlled company may offer three tranches of notes due in three, five and 10 years, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firm is raising cash to help fund its commitment to pay out $75 billion in dividends, a pledge Aramco made to drum up support for its initial public offering. But with the spread of the coronavirus and widespread lockdowns curbing demand for oil last year, the price of Brent crude plunged to just below $16 a barrel at one point in 2020, the lowest since 1999. The planned sale would be Aramco's first since November, when it raised $8 billion from a non-Shariah compliant offering.