Saudi Aramco has appointed U.S. investment bank Citi to lead a $2 billion financing backed by Britain, sources familiar with the deal said. The loan mandate will not be particularly lucrative, the sources said, but is seen by some banks as a way of getting closer to securing work on Aramco’s planned initial public share offer, which may value the company at $2 trillion – a sum some prospective investors have said appears unrealistically high. “Banks look at these kinds of operations for relationship purposes,” said a source at a European export credit agency in the Middle East. “This kind of loan is a bit of a test that Aramco makes on the market and given the name, there’s high competition among banks,” he added. The loan financing, announced in November, is guaranteed by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the British export credit agency, and will […]