Saudi Arabia is in talks to add top Wall Street banks for a secondary share sale in oil giant Aramco, Bloomberg reported. 

The kingdom intends to hire JPMorgan Chase & Co. as one of the main underwriters for the new offering, informed sources told the news agency.

Moreover, Bank of America Corporation and Morgan Stanley are vying for leading roles in the deal, which could raise up to $20 billion, the report said.

The Saudi government has already lined up Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group and HSBC Holdings to work on the offering.

Boutique bank Moelis & Co. has been acting as a financial adviser to help pick underwriters for the deal, sources added.

However, the final lineup of advisers is subject to change and additional banks are anticipated to join before the deal is launched, Bloomberg said.

No decisions have been made on the sale timing or the offering size.

Earlier this month, Saudi Aramco reported a net profit of $121.3 billion in 2023, a 24% decline from $161.1 billion in 2022.

The oil giant paid total dividends of $97.8 billion in 2023, an increase of 30% from 2022. It declared a base dividend of $20.3 billion for the fourth quarter, to be paid in Q1 2024.

(Editing by Brinda Darasha; brinda.darasha@lseg.com)