Saudi Aramco IPO announcement due 'very very soon'

DUBAI: The initial public offering (IPO) of state-owned oil producer Saudi Aramco will be announced ‘”very very soon”, Chairman Yassir al-Rumayyan was quoted as saying by al-Arabiya television.

Saudi Aramco pumps about one in every 10 barrels of oil produced in the world and sees the downstream – oil refining and petrochemicals – as increasingly important to boost the profit it makes on each barrel.

Their initial plan to sell a 5 percent stake in Aramco was meant to raise funds for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to invest in non-oil sectors. When the IPO was shelved, the wealth fund sold a majority stake in petrochemicals company Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) to Aramco for $69 billion instead.

After the SABIC acquisition was announced, Saudi Aramco issued its first international bonds in April. The success of that debt sale, which attracted more than $100 billion in orders for a $12 billion issue.

Back in August, the board of Saudi Aramco has determined that listing the state energy giant in New York would carry too many legal risks to make it a realistic option

New York was the exchange favored by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before plans for the initial public offering were put on hold last year, the sources said, even after Aramco’s lawyers and some government advisers had raised legal concerns.

New York offers the largest investor base in the world, vital for an IPO that aims to attract as much as $100 billion, a sum that could prove tough for other exchanges to raise. U.S. President Donald Trump urged the kingdom to list in New York.