Saudi crown prince says Aramco IPO by 2021

Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince insisted the plan to sell shares in oil giant Aramco will go ahead, promising an initial public offering (IPO) by 2021 and sticking to his ambitious view the state-run company is worth $2 trillion or more.
“I believe late 2020, early 2021,” he said, discussing the timing of the IPO in an interview at the royal palace in Riyadh. “The investor will decide the price on the day. I believe
it will be above $2 trillion. Because it will be huge.”
The IPO project was announced in 2016 as the cornerstone of the crown prince’s Vision 2030 plan to modernise the Saudi economy. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the IPO was “100 percent” in the nation’s interest.
“Everyone heard about the rumours of Saudi Arabia cancelling the IPO of Aramco, delaying that, and that this is delaying Vision 2030,” the crown prince said. “This is not right.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed said the IPO’s delay had its origin in mid-2017, when it became clear that Aramco needed a push into petrochemicals. He said it would had been unfair to go ahead with the listing only to surprise investors soon after with a big deal in chemicals.
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