The world’s biggest potential IPO may be on again
06 July, 2019
Between the end of Ramadan in early June and the start of the scorching summer holidays, a window for dealmaking has opened in Saudi Arabia. Swarming through it are some big-hitting investment bankers. They are hoping for a second chance to play a role in a potentially historic initial public offering (ipo): that of Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company.
So far, the Aramco ipo has been more mirage than money-spinner. Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince, announced it with fanfare (and scant forethought) in 2016, hoping for a $2trn valuation that would dwarf any other public company on the planet. Last year the process ran into the ground, amid differences between Prince Muhammad, Aramco and its legal advisers about whether the main listing should be in New York, London or elsewhere, and whether the $2trn was remotely achievable. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October cast an even darker cloud over its prospects.