May Vies With Trump for Aramco Listing with ECA support

(Bloomberg, London, 29 November 2017) U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said London is “extremely well-placed’’ to win a planned stock exchange listing by Saudi Arabia Oil Co., as she competes against U.S. President Donald Trump for the coveted initial share sale by the world’s largest crude producer. Aramco, worth trillions, is mulling an international sale in addition to a listing on the Saudi exchange. Trump earlier this month tweeted his hope that the Saudis would use a U.S. exchange, before lobbying Saudi King Salman personally on a phone call. The UK government earlier this month agreed to a $2 billion loan guarantee, an unusually large export credit guarantee that’s designed to finance the purchase of British goods, but that also opened May up to the suggestion she was trying to influence the listing decision.