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Bloomberg
President Donald Trump personally lobbied Saudi King Salman to list the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. on the New York Stock Exchange during a phone call between
the world leaders, according to
a readout provided by the
White House.
The call, which came as the president flew from Honolulu to Tokyo, followed the president tweeting his hope that the listing would occur on a US exchange, raising the political stakes for what would be the largest initial public offering. “Important to the United States!†Trump said in the Twitter post from Honolulu.
Trump’s tweet, sent hours before he was set to depart for an 11-day tour of Asia, came out of the blue for Aramco, according to a person familiar with the company, who asked not to be named. But the move is consistent with a growing push by American regulators to lure companies to US stock exchanges. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after the call that he was motivated to send the tweet because the Aramco IPO “will be just about the biggest ever†and the US wants “to have all the big listings.†The Saudis were not currently looking at listing on a US exchange “because of litigation risk, and other risk, which is sad,†he said.
‘ENERGY GEOPOLITICS’
“I want them to very strongly consider the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ or frankly anybody else located in this country,†Trump said. The tweet was “energy geopolitics in action,†said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and a former senior oil official in the Obama administration.
“At a time when the Saudis are looking for the US to get tougher on Iran, the Saudi-Russian relationship is warming, the Saudis are trying to attract international private capital, and the Chinese are rumored to be conside-
ring taking a piece of Aramco, Trump’s personal plea to list in NY raises the diplomatic sta-
kes of Aramco’s decision.†A spokesperson of Saudi Aramco declined to comment, as did Kristen Kaus, a spokeswoman for the Intercontinental Exchange Inc.-owned NYSE.
The Aramco IPO could be the world’s largest, with the Saudi government hoping to raise $100 billion selling just 5 percent of the company. It is the centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030†reform plan, intended to diversify the kingdom’s economy and invest more heavily in infrastructure.
Although analysts and industry executives have said that figure is probably too high, even if Aramco raises half of it, it will be still double the current largest IPO, the $25 billion raised by Chinese group Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd. in 2014. While other politicians including British Prime Minister Theresa May and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have lobbied Riyadh to attract Aramco to their domestic exchanges, Trump’s tweet is so far the most public call to Riyadh.