Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly agreed that the initial public offering (IPO) of state oil giant Aramco will be announced tomorrow Sunday, according to five sources familiar with the matter.
Reuters quoted the sources saying that the "world’s top oil company will announce its intention to float on Nov. 3", and that the crown prince "finally gave the green light”.
Days earlier, Saudi Aramco officials and advisers held last-minute meetings with investors amid attempts to achieve as close to a $2 trillion valuation as possible ahead of an expected listing launch on Sunday.
An international sale is expected to follow the domestic IPO.
According to the sources, the final meeting by the Saudi government took place on Friday evening, to decide whether to go ahead with the listing.
According to CBS, to achieve $2 trillion, in the largest IPO in history, Riyadh needs the initial listing of a 1%-2% stake on the Saudi stock market to raise at least $20 billion-$40 billion.
The listing was first announced in 2016, in line with is the crown prince’s plan to shake up the Saudi economy and persify away from oil. There have been, however, various delays since then. Prince Mohammed wants to eventually list a total of 5% of the company.
Earlier in April, Aramco received bids for more than 10 times the $10 billion it was expected to raise in a debut international bond issue. Initially, the six-part deal had been expected to be at least $10 billion in size, but a source familiar with the situation said that orders have topped $100 billion.
According to CNBC, The first-ever debt issuance from Aramco has sparked massive global interest, with the move offering investors greater visibility into the financial performance of the world’s most profitable company. The offering comes ahead of plans to list a portion of Aramco on international stock markets in about two years.
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