Saudi Aramco Delays IPO

Saudi Aramco has delayed what would have become the largest IPO in history by a large margin.

According to the Financial Times, the decision to push the IPO back was made on Thursday and the company wants to provide further details on quarterly earnings.

This has been a busy year for Saudi Aramco, the most profitable company in the world today. The company was set to launch its IPO, which would easily be the largest in history. Now, the IPO will have to wait until December or January. According to the Financial Times, the company wants to follow up with investors on how September’s drone attacks have affected quarterly earnings.

The drone attacks that took place in September took a serious toll on Saudi Aramco’s infrastructure and led the company to cut production temporarily. The result was a global increase in oil prices while the company fixed and replaced damaged machinery and infrastructure. The company’s CEO, Amir Nasser, spoke to CNBC last week, when he explained that the company would be back at “maximum sustained capacity” by the end of November.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has in the past called for Saudi Aramco to be valued at $2 trillion. Company officials are planning on listing a 5% stake internationally. If the company offers 5% of its shares at a $2 trillion valuation, the IPO could realistically raise $100 billion. If this becomes the case, Saudi Aramco’s IPO will become the largest one in history, four times larger than Alibaba’s record $25 billion IPO.

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5 years ago