#SaudiArabia Moves Closer to Another Aramco Stock Offering - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Moves Closer to Another Aramco Stock Offering - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia’s plans for another multibillion-dollar offering of Aramco stock are gaining fresh momentum, with any deal set to be one of world’s largest share sales in recent years, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The kingdom has been working with several advisers to study the feasibility of a follow-on offering on the Riyadh exchange, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. It could make a decision as soon as the coming weeks about whether to proceed, they said.

Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said in January 2021 that the government would look to sell more shares in the state oil giant in the future, with proceeds transferred to the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. The Aramco offering may take place as soon as this year if the government goes ahead, though no precise timeline has been set, the people said.

Even a 1% offering would raise more than $20 billion for the kingdom as it embarks on an ambitious investment plan to diversify its local economy. The Saudi government directly owns about 90% of Aramco, with a further 8% held by its sovereign wealth fund.

Aramco fell as much as 4.7% on Tuesday. The stock was down 2.4% at 2:43 p.m. in Riyadh, giving the world’s largest energy company a market value of roughly $2.1 trillion. It shares have outperformed Western oil giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp. this year.