Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco plans to raise around US$5 billion in a new bond sale as early as this month, as it looks to fund its massive annual dividend of US$75 billion, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, quoting sources familiar with the plans. Saudi Aramco has already lined up more than a dozen banks to manage the bond sale, which will not be the first one for the oil giant in recent years. The debt sale could be both U.S.-denominated and denominated in the local currency in a sukuk, or Islamic bonds, issue, according to Bloomberg’s sources. “I think it was expected. They need the cash to pay the dividends that have been promised, they’ve done it in the past too,” a debt banker told Reuters , commenting on the report of the upcoming bond issue. According to a source who spoke to Reuters, HSBC, Standard Chartered, First Abu […]