Planned Aramco IPO on hold

Saudi Arabia has denied reports that the partial privatisation of Aramco has been cancelled—but hasn’t said when it will happen

For weeks there has been speculation that the planned initial public offering of the century wouldn't, after all, go ahead. The idea of selling off 5% of the kingdom's energy giant, Saudi Aramco, was made public in April 2016. That was when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled Vision 2030, an ambitious strategy to wean the country off oil. The Aramco IPO was a key plank in this. The crown prince reckoned that Aramco would be valued at $2 trillion or more, and that the IPO would raise more than $100bn for the sovereign wealth fund. Commentators and analysts questioned whether the figures involved were realistic, and whether the IPO would proceed the way it was being envisaged. No decisio