Saudi Arabia's state oil company, Saudi Aramco, initially began pondering listing itself on a public stock exchange at the beginning of this year. Since then, the biggest investment banks have been aggressively seeking out the firm's and the kingdom's officials to win their business. Some senior bankers, the type that rushes to advise on only the most important of deals, have reportedly shown up at Saudi Aramco's headquarters under the promise they would speak with the company's Chief Executive or Chairman, only to meet with much more junior employees. Yet, these bankers, the front-runners of whom come from JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), which has been laying the groundwork of a business relationship with Saudi Arabia for over eight decades, still push on.
To help explain that, here is a little background on the oil behemoth. Amongst the world's largest energy corporations, Saudi Aramco has the most barrels of reserve oil with 311.10 billion; its closest competitor is ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), which boasts a mere (relatively) 24.80 billion barrels. Valuations, which range from $2-3 trillion, of the Saudi oil giant certainly reflect that fact. Even if Saudi Aramco's value amounts to the lowest end of that estimation range, it would still easily knock Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) off of its throne as the world's most valuable company by market capitalization. With Saudi Aramco's seeking to put as much as 5% of itself on the public table of multiple international exchanges, its I.P.O. of $150 billion would make Alibaba's (NYSE: BABA) 2014 $25 billion offering, which is the largest to date, look very small very fast.
With all of that taken into account, the hordes' of investment bankers perseverance is for very good reason. In regards to compensation for the service of underwriting deals that are worth more than $10 billion, fees for bankers have historically been near 2%. Taking into consideration that Aramco will likely continue to be tough negotiators, the fee percentage may very well be closer to 1%. Even with that low percentage, whichever firms carry out the I.P.O are still looking to make more than $1 billion in fees. In investment banking, or any business for that matter, that is one hell of payday. Additionally, whoever the key underwriters are for this offering are more likely to be tapped in the future by Aramco or any other energy company for other services. For the investment banking industry, especially in light of the 'Brexit' decision and the uncertainty it poses for the well-being of all banks, the materialization of this Aramco deal could prove much more beneficial than just the fees it produces.