Saudi crown prince pledges Aramco IPO by early 2021

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince insisted the stalled plan to sell shares in oil giant Aramco will go ahead, promising an initial public offering (IPO) by 2021 and sticking to his ambitious view the state-run company is worth $2 trillion or more, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

“I believe late 2020, early 2021,” he said, discussing the timing of the IPO in an interview with Bloomberg at the royal palace in Riyadh. “The investor will decide the price on the day. I believe it will be above $2 trillion. Because it will be huge.” Aramco declined to comment. For the past two years, Saudi Arabia has prepared to place up to 5% of its national oil company on the stock market. Officials talked up the Saudi Aramco IPO with international exchanges, global banks and US President Donald Trump.

The planned listing of the world’s biggest oil producer was to be the cornerstone of the kingdom’s promised economic overhaul and, at a targeted $100 billion, the biggest IPO ever.

It was the brainchild of 32-yearold Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, heir apparent of the world’s largest oil exporter.

After months of setbacks, the international and domestic legs of the IPO were pulled, as the prince’s father King Salman stepped in to shelve it, three sources with ties to government insiders told Reuters in late August. —