The largest oil company in the world, Saudi Aramco, is going to re-enter the market for the first time in a year and a half. The oil giant is preparing to place bonds to pay out $ 75 billion in dividends, reports Bloomberg .
Agency sources indicate that most of the money will go to the main shareholder of the corporation – the government of Saudi Arabia. Funds are needed to cover the budget deficit.
Against the background of the global fall in oil prices, the corporation’s profit in the third quarter of 2020 collapsed a> almost doubled, amounting to $ 11.78 billion (against $ 21.29 billion a year earlier). Now the company does not have enough money to pay dividends. Saudi Aramco will begin negotiations with investors from November 16. It is assumed that up to five tranches of dollar bonds with a maturity of 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 30 or 50 years can be placed.
The fact that the company may take an unprecedented step and abandon some of the projects, became known in early autumn. Saudi Aramco has already announced the creation of a new division that will re-evaluate the company’s portfolio to create “resilience, flexibility and ability to respond to changing market dynamics.”