RIYADH: Saudi officials are seeking to transform Saudi Aramco into the world’s most valuable initial public offering (IPO) company which they say is worth about $ 2 trillion.
According to details, a year ago Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince and the power behind the throne Mohammed bin Salman electrified the global energy industry by revealing plans to float the world’s largest oil producer.
The ambitious proposal for an initial public offering in state-owned Saudi Aramco is the centrepiece of the hard-charging 31-year-old’s vision to overhaul an economy seen as too heavily dependent on natural resources.
One year on from Prince Mohammed’s statement of intent, many key issues are still to be resolved: notably those pertaining to the precise shape of Saudi Aramco as a public company, its tax rate and dividend policy, and where it will take a stock market listing.
But Saudi officials and advisers who are scrambling to secure work on the flotation say one thing is clear: this is no ordinary IPO. “This listing is different to every other in terms of scale, the nature of the offering, the uncertainties around it, the timeline, the process,” says one person who has discussed the IPO planning with Saudi officials. “Nothing about it is comparable.”
Those close to the planning say the sale of a 5 per cent stake should happen next year, although the number of shares sold could increase, and the IPO timing could slip.
