Saudi Crown Prince says Aramco IPO “on track” for 2018

26 October 2017
Listing details for planned part-sale of world's largest oil company are being discussed

Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) is on track for next year and the national oil giant could be valued at more than $2 trillion, according to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

“We are on track in 2018... but the listing (details) are still under discussion,” Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters in an interview. “It will be IPO-ed in 2018.”

The comments from the Crown Prince come amid increasing doubts about whether Saudi Arabia will be able to sell shares in its national oil company next year.

On 19 October, the UK-based magazine The Economist published a story saying that the Kingdom’s advisers “say privately that the decision to list in New York or London has been postponed”.

The plan for now, according to the Economist article is for the shares to be issued on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul exchange, with a private placement possibly to Chinese investors.

Speaking in the interview with Reuters, the crown prince declined to discuss specific details of the IPO, which could be the biggest in history and is expected to raise as much as $100 billion.

“I know that there has been a lot of argument around this topic but at the end of the day the right say is that of the investor. Undoubtedly the biggest IPO in the world must be accompanied by a lot of rumours,” Mohammed bin Salman said.

 “Aramco would prove itself on the ground on the day of the IPO. Actually when I talked about the valuation, I talk about $2 trillion, it could be more than $2 trillion.”

 Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the IPO would not be impacted with the ongoing rift with Qatar.

 “Qatar is a very, very, very small issue,” he said.

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