Sunday 10 November 2019

Bidding for 'milestone' sale of Aramco shares set for next week | Business | The Guardian

Bidding for 'milestone' sale of Aramco shares set for next week | Business | The Guardian:

Bidding for shares in the world’s most profitable company will start in a week’s time, it has been announced, as Saudi Aramco fleshed out its plans for a much-delayed float expected to be the largest in history.

The oil company, which is owned by the autocratic Gulf state, said it would take bids for its shares from 17 November and planed to provide further details on the final offer price and the amount of stock for sale on 5 December.

Its prospectus, which was released at the weekend, showed profits of $68.2bn (£53.3bn) for the first six months of this financial year.

The 658-page document gave no indication of the price range that the Saudi government hoped to achieve but City analysts have valued Saudi Aramco, which accounts for more than 10% of the world’s oil production, between $1.1tn and $2.5tn.

Aramco IPO Prospectus Flags Peak Oil Demand Risk in 20 Years - Bloomberg

Aramco IPO Prospectus Flags Peak Oil Demand Risk in 20 Years - Bloomberg:

Global oil demand may peak within the next 20 years, according to an assessment included in the prospectus for Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering, suggesting views are slowly changing in the kingdom where officials long dismissed the notion as overblown.

Rather than providing its own assessment, Aramco used a forecast from industry consultant IHS Markit Ltd. that forecasts oil demand to peak around 2035. Under that scenario, demand growth for crude and other oil liquids will be “leveling off” at that time. In an accompanying chart, the Saudi oil giant showed global oil demand lower in 2045 than in 2040.

While Aramco didn’t explicitly endorse the forecast, its inclusion in the 658-page IPO prospectus will bring it the attention of investors worldwide. The company’s directors believe that the data provided by the industry consultant are “reliable,” according to the prospectus.

A second scenario in the prospectus, which is essentially a marketing document for Aramco’s share sale, assumes a faster transition away from fossil fuels that leads to peak oil demand occurring in the late 2020s.

#Iran discovers new oil field with over 50 billion barrels

Iran discovers new oil field with over 50 billion barrels:

Iran has discovered a new oil field in the country’s south with over 50 billion barrels of crude, its president said Sunday, a find that could boost the country’s proven reserves by a third as it struggles to sell energy abroad over U.S. sanctions.

The announcement by Hassan Rouhani comes as Iran faces crushing American sanctions after the U.S. pulled out of its nuclear deal with world powers last year.

Rouhani made the announcement in a speech in the desert city of Yazd. He said the field was located in Iran’s southern Khuzestan province, home to its crucial oil industry.

#Dubai's Emaar Properties third quarter profit up 20% - Reuters

Dubai's Emaar Properties third quarter profit up 20% - Reuters:

Dubai’s largest listed developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) said on Sunday third quarter net profit jumped 20% despite a prolonged slowdown in the emirate’s property sector.

A supply glut has slowed the market for most of the decade, apart from a brief pick up more than five years ago, sending prices down by at least a quarter since 2014. 


Emaar made 1.3 billion dirhams ($362 million) in net profit in the July to September period, compared to 1.1 billion dirhams a year ago, the company said in a bourse statement.

Arqaam Capital estimated the developer would make 1.2 billion dirhams, while EFG Hermes estimated 1.3 billion dirhams.

Mideast Stocks: Banks lead #Saudi up while financials drag down #Dubai | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Mideast Stocks: Banks lead Saudi up while financials drag down Dubai | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Saudi Arabia's stock market rose on Sunday, buoyed by banking shares in the wake of Saudi Aramco's release of its initial public offering prospectus, while Dubai was dragged down by financials and property stocks.

Saudi Aramco said in its prospectus that it will sell up to 0.5% of its shares to individual retail investors. But it did not include details of how much of the company would in total be floated or of any commitments from anchor investors. 

Earlier, Reuters had cited sources saying the oil producer could sell 1%-2% on the Saudi stock market.

Last week, the market regulator approved the listing of Aramco, following which Saudi shares fell, and analysts had said that local investors could be selling other shares in order to shift investments to the oil producer.

#Saudi Aramco to offer retail investors 0.5% of shares in IPO | Financial Times

Saudi Aramco to offer retail investors 0.5% of shares in IPO | Financial Times:

An advertisement for the planned Saudi Aramco initial public offering sits on display at the Corniche coastline in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday © Bloomberg


Saudi Aramco released the long-awaited prospectus for its initial public offering on Saturday, with the kingdom’s state oil company saying it would offer up to 0.5 per cent of shares for sale to retail investors while disclosing few other details.

The offering is tipped to be the biggest ever. But Saudi Aramco did not reveal the number of shares on offer, the total percentage of the company to be sold, a price range or a date for the listing.

The prospectus marks the furthest the kingdom has gone in its endeavour to list shares in the country’s biggest revenue earner, almost four years after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first disclosed his ambition for a flotation.

Dealing with (Shhh) the Saudis - Bloomberg

Dealing with (Shhh) the Saudis - Bloomberg:

Travis Kalanick, the co-founder of Uber Technologies Inc., is once again playing the villain.

CloudKitchens, Kalanick's new startup, secretly accepted a $400 million investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund in January, according to the Wall Street Journal. The investment came just a few months after the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA has blamed directly on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The killing led to a round of soul-searching about whether tech companies should be accepting investment from the Saudi government. Uber, which took $3.5 billion from the Saudi PIF in 2016, came under particular scrutiny. Yet in the middle of the controversy, the company's erstwhile co-founder was apparently planning to get back in bed with the Saudis. 

It’s not as if the political problems with Saudi Arabia have faded since last year. News of the CloudKitchens investment emerges just a few weeks after Silicon Valley types shunned this year's “Davos in the Desert,” the Saudi government’s glitzy investment conference. And earlier this week, federal prosecutors accused two former Twitter employees of helping Saudi Arabia spy on political dissidents.

#SaudiArabia's Aramco IPO Is Vulnerable to Russian Interference - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia's Aramco IPO Is Vulnerable to Russian Interference - Bloomberg:

In finance, as in comedy, timing is everything. Get it right and you have investors (or the audience) in the palm of your hand. Get it wrong and the ensuing silence is painful.

Saudi Arabia has stepped on stage finally to launch the initial public offering of its oil monopoly Saudi Aramco. By a strange quirk of the calendar, the price of the shares will be set on the same day OPEC meets to decide the next step in its strategy of propping up the price of crude.

It’s hard to see this coincidence as anything other than unhappy for Riyadh. To get the best price for its Aramco shares, it needs to stop the oil price from weakening. Yet this leaves it at the mercy of members of the OPEC+ group of nations that haven’t been doing their fair share of cutting crude production to shore up the price: namely Russia and Iraq, who’ve preferred to let the Saudis shoulder the burden along with their allies Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

#Saudi Aramco Reveals Key Risks Before Giant IPO - Bloomberg

Saudi Aramco Reveals Key Risks Before Giant IPO - Bloomberg:

Saudi Aramco published the prospectus for what could be the biggest initial public offering in history. The oil giant disclosed a catalog of risks, ranging from terrorism to government interference, the impact of climate change on demand and even currency exchange difficulties.

#Saudi Aramco prospectus flags risks, gives few details on IPO size - Reuters

Saudi Aramco prospectus flags risks, gives few details on IPO size - Reuters:

Saudi state oil giant Aramco will sell up to 0.5% of its shares to individual retail investors and will be restricted from issuing additional shares for a year after the initial public offering (IPO), its prospectus said on Saturday.

Aramco fired the starting gun on what is likely be the world’s largest listing on Nov. 3 after a series of delays. The offering, set to rank it as the world’s most valuable company, will begin on Nov. 17, the prospectus said.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to sell the shares to raise billions of dollars to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil by investing in non-energy industries.

MIDEAST STOCKS-Banks boost #Saudi index; other Gulf markets dip - Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Banks boost Saudi index; other Gulf markets dip - Reuters:

Saudi Arabian stocks rose sharply on Sunday, boosted by gains in financial shares in the wake of Saudi Aramco’s (IPO-ARMO.SE) disclosure of its initial public offering prospectus, while other major Gulf markets were subdued.

Saudi Aramco said in its prospectus that it will sell up to 0.5% of its shares to individual retail investors. But it did not include details of how much of the company would be floated in total or of any commitments from anchor investors. 


Earlier, Reuters had cited sources saying the oil producer could sell 1%-2% on the Saudi stock market.

Last week, the market regulator approved the listing of Aramco, following which Saudi shares fell, and analysts had said that local investors could be selling other shares in order to shift investments to the oil producer.