Saudi Aramco set to pay up to $450 million in fees to IPO advisers

Investment bankers from around the world have been pitching for years to win a coveted role on Aramco’s IPO

Advisers working on Saudi Aramco’s mammoth share sale may split a fee pool of as much as $450 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter, making it one of the biggest IPO pay outs globally.

The oil giant is set to pay between $350 million and $450 million to a group of more than 20 banks working on its initial public offering, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The payment would represent a fee of about 1 per cent on the $40 billion Aramco is seeking to raise — relatively low compared to other markets. J PMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley are expected to be paid the most, the people said. The final amount paid to banks will depend on how much Aramco raises, they said. A representative for Aramco declined to comment….

Falling Short

Even though Saudi Aramco’s would be one of the biggest fee pools for investment banks, it would still fall short of the $535 million Softbank Group Corp. paid when it raised $21 billion by selling shares in its Japanese telecommunications business last year.

Still, perhaps bankers shouldn’t complain too much. When Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank raised $6 billion in its 2014 IPO, advisers including HSBC and Gulf International Bank were paid just 0.1 per cent of the offering value.,,,