Prince Gets His $2 Trillion Aramco, But Victory Comes at a Cost - Bloomberg

Prince Gets His $2 Trillion Aramco, But Victory Comes at a Cost - Bloomberg:

Almost four years after Mohammed bin Salman first said Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant was worth $2 trillion, the crown prince finally proved his point on Thursday. 


On the second day of trading on Riyadh’s stock exchange, Saudi Aramco surged -- briefly -- past his target. The valuation had become a matter of pride for Prince Mohammed, and he’s likely to claim victory over skeptical international investors who said the fair value for the world’s largest company is far lower. 

“I know he is proud,” his half-brother and oil minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said in a TV interview after the shares were successfully allocated last week. “He made us all proud because he took good decisions. These decisions, you have seen it now, have brought us a 4.6 times over-subscription.”

When the international sales effort was ditched back in November, the crown prince, advised by Prince Abdulaziz and Aramco Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, decided to press on without the global fund management industry and use local capital to get as close to $2 trillion as possible.