Aramco IPO: Called off or Delayed?
Yesterday, Reuters reported:
"Saudi Arabia has called off both the domestic and international stock listing of state oil giant Aramco, billed as the biggest such deal in history"
A few hours later, Saudi's energy minister denied the reports of the IPO being called off, insisting:
"The government remains committed to the initial public offering of Saudi Aramco, in accordance with the appropriate circumstances and appropriate time chosen by the Government."
I doubt it will be happening anytime soon but I have a feeling that Saudi Arabia will eventually go through with the Aramco IPO plans. I guess what has been unclear in the past and remains to be is:
If they do go through with the IPO, then what exchange would they list on? If they do plan to list both domestically and internationally, what international exchange do you think would be best for them to list on?
Finally someone else wants to discuss this topic hahaha
I honestly think it's just delayed for now seeing as the Sabic acquisition is domestic and shouldn't be too much of a hassle and only 5% is being floated. A full on call off would ruin MBS's plans to have a large influx of cash into the Kingdom and diversify from O&G.
I don't know enough about the pros and cons of various stock exchanges to say which would be best but I would imagine a joint NYSE and LSE listing wouldn't be a bad option.
A joint listing would be interesting. But what do you think about transparency/legal issues with listing abroad? I know in that in the US, for example, they are going to have to deal with pretty a sophisticated compliance documentation process.
I think the UK is also quite stringent about compliance and such. By transparency I'm assuming you mean about opening their books to the world? I think it could be a bit tricky. On the one hand I would like to believe that they have clean books and don't overstate earnings and such but on the other I think some crafty accounting may be going on.
Yeah, you got a good point over there. What do you think of the potential of listing in Hong Kong? It has already started taking apart some of the stricter listing rules for some industries such as biotech in order to attract more IPO's. Do you think there is any potential of them doing the same for Saudi Aramco?
Here's the link of the article I'm referring to here: https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2124503/hong-kong-overh…</a">https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2124503/hong-kong-overh…
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