Reuters reports that the proposed IPO by Saudi ARAMCO, which would have been the world's largest, has definitely been canceled. I have posted previously posted about delays in the IPO and rumors it would be cancelled. Now it has been.
The reports say that there were multiple factors. There were problems with finding a venue for the IPO, with the last candidate being the exchange in Riyadh. There were reports that what was originally planned to be a public offering had turned into a private one. But even with this there were issues about transparency, especially regarding oil reserves. At the heart of the problem in the end were unresolvable conflicts between the Saudi government and the company Saudi ARAMCO, ironic given that the government owns the company supposedly. The report did not specify which part of the Saudi government was involved, although one would assume the Ministry of Petroleum. But in the end probably the crucial decisionmaker was the arrogant and incompetent Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
Barkley Rosser
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The NY Times reports today that the Saudi leadership denies the Reuters report and that the IPO has merely been postponed. But then rumors of this postponement have been around for nearly a year now, not making it into the MSM. I leave it to others to decide what is what with all this.
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