Saudi Aramco Set for Mega Debt Deal Pitched by JPMorgan’s Dimon

A mosque is seen behind the entrance gate to the administration area of Saudi Aramco headquarters, on May 10, 2016 in Dhahran, 400kms east of the capital Riyadh. Despite collapsed global oil prices, production is expanding at Shaybah, as it is in other units of the company at the centre of the kingdom's Vision 2030 drive for diversification away from oil. The Saudi government plans to sell less than five percent of the company in what officials say will be the world's largest-ever share offering, while transforming Saudi Aramco into "a global industrial conglomerate". By 2020 the company says it will have tripled its gas processing capacity from levels at the turn of the century. / AFP / IAN TIMBERLAKE Photo credit should read IAN TIMBERLAKE/AFP/Getty Images

In a bond sale closely watched by investors globally, Saudi Aramco and its bankers are preparing to kick off what could be at least a $10 billion offering this week. Early indications suggest investors are already crowding in.

A message circulated among investors on April 5 said interest in the most highly anticipated sale of the year already totaled more than $26 billion, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The state-owned oil giant and bankers spent the last weeks drumming up support for its debut offering at presentations in cities ranging from New York and Chicago to Singapore and Tokyo.