Five companies have submitted first-round bids for a potential multi-billion dollar stake in Saudi Aramco's natural gas pipeline network.
According to Arab Net, the list of companies included Apollo Global Management, Brookfield Asset Management, BlackRock, IEG Global Energy Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners, which submitted non-binding offers. According to undisclosed sources.
The sources said that Aramco is seeking more than $15 billion for a gas pipeline stake in one of the company's largest operations. Aramco will inform the bidders if they have reached the next round of bidding in the coming days, according to the sources.
No final decisions have been made and Aramco can still decide to hold the asset, and other new competitors may submit their bids, with some bidders possibly joining them, the sources said. Given the size of the large assets.
Representatives for Aramco, BlackRock, Brookfield, EIG and GIB declined to comment, while an Apollo spokesman did not immediately comment.
The world's largest oil company plans to raise tens of billions of dollars by selling more stakes in its business as it seeks to maintain an annual dividend of $75 billion. A group of investors led by EIG Global agreed to invest $12.4 billion in Aramco's oil pipelines in June, in one of the largest infrastructure transactions of the year.
A gas pipeline deal may be structured in a similar way to an oil pipeline deal, in which investors bought a minority stake in a new Aramco subsidiary with asset leasing rights, he said. People familiar with the matter.
Aramco's master gas system is a network of pipelines that connect its production to processing sites throughout the kingdom. The infrastructure has a capacity of about 9.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day, according to Aramco's annual report.
