JPMorgan subsidiary to sell Saudi Investment Bank stake for $203m

A subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to sell its minority stake in Saudi Investment Bank for SAR759.3m ($203m), Saudi Investment Bank said in a statement on Sunday.

JPMorgan International Finance, which has held a minority stake in Saudi Investment Bank since 1976, will divest its holding by selling its shares back to Saudi Investment Bank, JPMorgan said in a separate statement about the deal.

JPMorgan, which is the only U.S. bank providing both commercial banking and securities services in the kingdom, did not disclose the size of the stake or the financial terms of the deal.

JPMorgan is among the banks advising Saudi Aramco on an international public offering (IPO), that could be the world’s largest, and it is also seeking to benefit from other opportunities stemming from reforms being pushed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who wants to make the kingdom less reliant on oil.

“Globally, the firm has wound-down non-core holdings and projects over the past several years and this proposed sale is consistent with that consolidation effort,” said Bader Alamoudi, senior country officer for JPMorgan.

“We are excited and optimistic about the kingdom’s economic prospects, the opportunities offered by Vision 2030 and our firm’s ability to support it.”

The agreement involves shares being sold at SAR13.50 each, Saudi Investment Bank said. The shares were trading 0.4 per cent up at SAR17.80 early on Sunday.

Arms of the Saudi government are collectively the largest shareholder in Saudi Investment Bank, the tenth-largest Saudi bank by assets, together owning 34.6 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters data.