Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has given the go-ahead for the oil giant Aramco to go public, according to insiders. Tomorrow, the leap to the trading floor will finally be announced, five people familiar with the matter said yesterday evening. Aramco did not want to comment.
According to insiders, the Saudi oil giant and its advisers still talked to investors shortly before the IPO. The goal is to get as close as possible to the target valuation of two trillion dollars for the whole company, said three people familiar with the project. However, this goal is considered by insiders as too ambitious. First, one to two percent should be placed on the oil giant. With $ 20 billion in issue volume, this would be one of the world’s largest IPOs of all time.
Crown Prince Mohammed had launched the IPO of Aramco three years ago. But the step on the floor was delayed again and again. The crown prince wants to finance the restructuring of the economy with the proceeds from the IPO.
For example, he is planning a gigantic infrastructure project between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, where companies from all kinds of sectors, such as the energy and water industries, biotechnology and the entertainment industry, are to settle. This should make the kingdom less dependent on the oil and gas sector, which has so far contributed the bulk of Saudi Arabian export revenues.
