Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih has stressed that the timing of the initial public offering of the state oil company Aramco was not that significant as long as the conditions for the success of that listing are in place.
“Between December 31st and January 1st there is no value lost for the kingdom,” Falih said. “So, I don’t see this artificial deadline that you refer to as being significant,” Falih told Bloomberg in an interview held at the Saudi Embassy in London.
He raised expectations for the IPO to be delayed until 2019.
The IPO would be “anchored” by a listing on Saudi Arabia’s local exchange and any international listing would be announced in due course, Falih said.
All investors in the world have a huge interest in the IPO, he told his interviewer.
London is among the cities competing to host the IPO, he added.
Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said Thursday that “all the work-streams” needed for the oil giant’s public listing would be completed by the second half of 2018.
“On the question of where we will be listed, I will park that,” he told a forum in London.
