Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Aug 13, 2025

Wall Street finds Saudi Arabia still frugal when it comes to fees

Wall Street finds Saudi Arabia still frugal when it comes to fees

Despite a blitz of offerings this year, Saudi IPO riches have yet to manifest for global banks.

The latest crop of Saudi Arabia’s market newcomers is proving just as frugal when it comes to paying investment bankers.

Despite attracting $125 billion in orders from investors for an initial public offering of Saudi Telecom Co.’s internet-services unit, banks including Morgan Stanley and HSBC Holdings Plc are set to share just about $12 million in fees, Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co., also known as solutions by stc, said in its prospectus.

That’s just 1.3% of the offering value, compared with an average of about 5% or more for IPOs in the U.S. or Europe. Morgan Stanley alone had a bigger payday during UiPath Inc.’s $1.54 billion IPO in April, which generated a total of $67 million in fees.

The Saudi deal’s pot also gets split between a local bank, auditors and legal advisers — and will even be used to cover the cost of printing the prospectus.

IPO riches have yet to materialize for global banks despite a bonanza of share sales this year. Wall Street heavyweights like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. have still flocked to the kingdom, hiring teams on the ground and sending in their top executives to sway local officials in the hope of winning advisory roles.

The financial rewards were meager even in the case of Saudi Aramco’s record offering in 2019, which raised almost $30 billion but paid out just over $100 million – split between more than 20 banks, with the bulk of the fees going to Saudi lenders after foreign investors didn’t take part in the deal.

If anything, that was an improvement over the IPO of Saudi Arabia’s biggest bank in 2014, when advisers including HSBC reaped $6.7 million in fees, or just 0.1% of the $6 billion offering size.


A bigger payday awaits investment banks working on Saudi Arabia’s first $1 billion initial public offering since Aramco – with a caveat.

Lenders and advisers including JPMorgan and Citigroup are set to share $42 million in fees from ACWA Power’s IPO that launched just after the offering by solutions by STC.

While that represents about 3.5% of the $1.2 billion deal size, banks were mandated more than three years ago, meaning the return over time is modest at best.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Qatar Airways Clears Backlog of Passengers Following Missile Threats
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
×