Riyadh – Mubasher: The pace of Saudi Aramco's planned initial public offering (IPO) is losing steam and slowing down on the back of a disagreement between the ruling family and the company’s executives over where to list the state oil company’s shares, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Aramco’s executives are pushing the Saudi king and his son, deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, to list the company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), while the ruling family prefers the listing to be carried out on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Aramco’s top officials believe that a US listing would expose the company to greater legal risks, including from potential class-action shareholder lawsuits, the newspaper said.
However, the Saudi Arabian royal court favours the NYSE because of the Kingdom's longstanding political ties to the US, which also represents the deepest pool of capital in the world.
The IPO is planned to take place in the second half of 2018, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser had previously stated.
Earlier, bin Salman said that the Kingdom was planning to offer about 5% of Aramco, also known as Saudi Arabian Oil Co, on both the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in Riyadh and one or more international markets.
The IPO could raise up to $100 billion and is considered the largest in the world by some analysts.
