Breakingviews - Aramco: the IPO that succeeded and failed - Reuters

Breakingviews - Aramco: the IPO that succeeded and failed - Reuters:

Saudi Arabia’s sale of its crown jewel always risked becoming a Greek tragedy. Ever since the Gulf Kingdom decided in 2016 on a public stock offering to sell 5% of Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer and its main source of revenue, the interests of the seller and the anticipated horde of international investors have been on a collision course. A crash duly ensued.

Aramco’s ill-starred listing has been through four distinct stages. The genesis of the current strife came in 2017 when Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, insisted on a $2 trillion price tag for Aramco and set investment banks and exchanges around the world competing to make that happen.

That led to stasis, as the difficulties of achieving such a valuation and accommodating Aramco’s myriad environmental, social and governance headaches on a global bourse became clear. In mid-2018, things went quiet. A few months later, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the kingdom’s agents made investing in Saudi assets verboten.