The Scoop
A group of investors including sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the UAE, as well as South Korea’ National Pension Service have joined an $11 billion deal to support Aramco’s plan to boost gas production, according to people familiar with the matter.
The consortium, led by BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), includes Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and its Hassana pension fund, one of the world’s largest. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co and Lunate, Bahrain’s Abrdn Investcorp Infrastructure Partners, and Singapore’s GIC also joined the deal, along with The Arab Energy Fund, the people said.
Hassana, Investcorp, GIC, GIP, and Mubadala declined to comment. Aramco, Lunate, NPS, and PIF didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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Aramco announced in August that a GIP-led group would acquire a 49% stake in Jafurah Midstream Gas Co., which will lease development and usage rights for a gas processing facility before leasing them back to Aramco. The oil giant didn’t disclose the other investors at the time as work was still underway to finalize participation.
Details about the transaction are expected to be announced later this month, the people said. The deal allows Aramco to raise external funding to support its Jafurah gas project — a key part of the company’s plan to increase gas production by 60% to meet rising demand for the fuel.
The Jafurah transaction is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest single inflows of foreign direct investment since Aramco sold leasing rights to some of its infrastructure assets in 2022.
Also notable is who the investors are. The 2022 transaction included a mix of Chinese and Western funds. Geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing precluded Chinese investors from participating in the deal that was first arranged by New York-based GIP before it was syndicated. (Reuters reported that some Chinese banks provided debt financing).
The presence of Abu Dhabi funds is also noteworthy, marking one of the first deals that state-controlled investors from the emirate have put money into a Saudi entity.