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Jeddah: Saudi Arabian Mining (Maaden), a state-owned partner in an aluminium venture with Canada's Alcan, said it planned to raise as much as 9 billion riyals ($2.4 billion) in a share sale this year.
Alcan and Maaden agreed in April to develop what would be one of the world's largest aluminium-making projects at a cost of $7 billion. That includes a smelter, an alumina refinery and a power station.
Maaden plans to sell 40 per cent of the company in an initial public offering - possibly before October - and another 10 per cent to two Saudi state funds, Maaden chief executive officer Abdullah Dabbagh told Reuters on the sidelines of an investment conference yesterday. "This IPO will be the last link in the chain ... The financing will be complete," Dabbagh said.
The share sale, on which JPMorgan Chase & Co was advising, was initially planned for last year, and put at between $1.9 billion and $2.5 billion.
Maaden, which generates most of its revenue from gold production, is developing projects - including phosphate mining - worth about 44 billion riyals, as the world's largest oil exporter seeks to diversify its economy from energy.
The phosphate venture with state-controlled Saudi Basic Industries Corp will cost about 17 billion riyals.
Maaden is looking for more projects, Dabbagh said. "This growth can be done through acquisitions, mergers or new projects all in the mineral sector."
Maaden appointed seven banks, including Standard Chartered, to arrange a $2.3 billion loan to finance the phosphate venture, a banking source told Reuters Loan Price Corporation on February 14.
The planned loan is split between a syndicated Islamic facility and a facility guaranteed by the Korea Export Insurance Corp.
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