The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in Riyadh today there is “significant interest” to invest in the forthcoming Aramco IPO from Russia and from China, according to reports.
Several banks and other groups in Russia are interested in investing in shares of Aramco, according to Bloomberg, which reported comments from Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of the RDIF.
Russia is also seeking to finalize multi-million-dollar investment deals with Saudi Arabia in the next three months including through partnerships with state oil giant Aramco, Reuters reports. The move appears to be an effort to boost energy ties between the two major oil producers.
“There are a number of investors who would like to invest in the Aramco IPO, including several banks,” Dmitriev said on Wednesday.
“Not only this, we have a Russia-China investment fund, and through that Russia-China investment fund we see a major interest in the Aramco IPO from a number of leading Chinese institutions,” he said.
The Saudi-Russian private sector cooperation comes on the back of months of government efforts between Saudi Arabia, OPEC, and Russia to control a changing global oil market. The two countries have agreed on output cuts in order to ease a supply glut that has kept prices lower in recent years. Those cuts appear to be working. Other than a sell-off last week after markets around the world experienced a correction, oil has climbed nearly $20 a barrel on indices since June 2017.
