Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) of stock looks set to be a smaller-scale undertaking than previously anticipated. Both Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported on November 18 that the company has scrapped plans to hold international roadshow presentations for the issue and will only sell shares on the Tadawul exchange in Riyadh.
Reports to this effect surfaced the day after Saudi Aramco released the prospectus for its IPO, which will consist of 1.5% of the company’s stock. In the document, the state-run Saudi giant put its own value at US$1.7 trillion, lower than the target figure of US$2 trillion cited previously by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Even so, a valuation figure of US$1.7 trillion would make Saudi Aramco the highest-value public company in the world. Additionally, the company remains the most profitable firm in the world.