After so many postponements, the step back. Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from the listing of the oil giant Aramco. According to rumors reported by Reuters, the Saudi government, which controls the company, will not proceed with the IPO on either the local or international markets.
"The decision to cancel the IPO was taken some time ago, but nobody can make it public, so continuous delays will be communicated and then the step back will be announced," the insider sources said, according to which the financial advisors who were working would have been disoriented when Saudi Arabia shifted attention to the possible acquisition of "a strategic stake" in the local petrochemical group Saudi Basic Industries.
In 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans to sell about 5% of Aramco via domestic and international listing. According to forecasts, the IPO, one of the largest ever, would have raised the value of the company to over 2 trillion dollars.
In the last annual report, published in August, the energy minister and president of Aramco Khalid Al Falih had confirmed the plans for the listing of Aramco, without however giving indications on the timing.
