- Luberef, Saudi oil giant Aramco’s subsidiary, is looking forward to raising 4.95B riyals ($1.32B) from its IPO. It is planning to sell around 30% of the company’s shares, which equates to 50M shares, at between 91–99 riyals each.
- Aramco owns 70% of Luberef’s shares while Saudi investment bank Jadwa Investment owns the rest. It is reported that at least 75% of the Luberef shares will be offered to institutional investors, and the final share price will be announced next Sunday. However, a date has not yet been set for shares to begin trading on Riyadh’s Tadawul exchange.
- Notably, Gulf companies have raised about $16B through state-led listings this year, and Aramco’s listing in late 2019 was the world’s largest IPO.
Why it matters
This Saudi government-led IPO is a part of the Vision 2030 economic agenda to diversify the oil-reliant economy, construct new industries and produce jobs.