Breakingviews - Aramco’s latest IPO delay is a triple fail - Reuters:
Saudi Aramco’s interminable soap opera just commenced a new and problematic chapter. Early on Thursday, the kingdom finally appeared ready to launch the listing of a 5% stake in its oil giant. By the end of the day that was off again, with the latest delay set to last weeks or even months. It’s a triple setback.
The immediate problem is that this is Aramco’s second false start. Riyadh pulled its first attempt at an initial public offering last year amid concern the company wouldn’t hit Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s desired $2 trillion valuation. Last month’s rocket attacks on critical Aramco infrastructure, which temporarily knocked out half its output of 10 million barrels of oil per day, justified further caution. Yet Aramco pressed on, readying its newly appointed bankers to launch the IPO this Sunday, only to put the process on hold again. The company hopes that third-quarter results will reassure investors following the outages, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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