Aramco IPO prospectus to be filed by end of the month, report says

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, is expected to file its IPO prospectus by the end of the month, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

The prospectus will reportedly first be published in Arabic on Oct. 25 and then in English two days later, according to a timeline seen by the Journal.

The state-owned oil enterprise will list its shares on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul exchange, as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic reform plan. The crown prince anticipates listing 5% of the company in total domestically and internationally by 2020 or 2021. If the Saudi government decides to move forward with the listing, 1% to 2% of Aramco’s shares will be listed domestically by late November or early December, people familiar with the matter said.

The crown prince has indicated that he wants a valuation of $2 trillion, though analysts and Aramco officials have valued Aramco at closer to $1.5 trillion.

The Aramco IPO was delayed in 2018, reportedly over Saudi officials’ concerns about public scrutiny of the company’s finances. A drone and missile strike in September temporarily knocked out more than half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output, though officials stressed at the time that the Aramco IPO scheduling was not impacted.

Aramco did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment, and declined to comment in response to a request from CNBC.

Read the full Wall Street Journal story here.

Correction: The drone and missile strike in September temporarily knocked out more than half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output. An earlier version misstated the damage from the attack.