BlackRock courts investors ahead of Aramco oil pipelines bond sale: Report

BlackRock courts investors ahead of Aramco oil pipelines bond sale: Report

BlackRock Inc has held meetings with investors in London to drum up interest in a bond sale to begin refinancing a $13.4 billion loan that backed the asset manager's deal to buy a stake in Saudi Aramco's gas pipelines network, two sources said on Tuesday.

A consortium led by BlackRock agreed to a $15.5 billion lease-and-leaseback agreement with Aramco last year which gives the investors a 49 percent stake in newly formed subsidiary Aramco Gas Pipelines Co, which will lease usage rights in Aramco's gas pipelines network and lease them back to Aramco for 20 years.

BlackRock held meetings with investors in London, both sources, who are familiar with the matter, said. The world's biggest asset manager also held meetings in Dubai and New York, one of the sources said.

BlackRock ran the investor meetings itself, without the help of a bank, the second source said.

BlackRock and Aramco did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

A debut bond sale - expected to be the first of several - is anticipated before the end of the year, the sources said.

In a similar deal last year, Aramco agreed a $12.4 billion deal to sell a 49 percent stake in its oil pipelines company to