Aramco to announce IPO 'very soon': chairman

Saudi Arabia's energy giant Aramco will announce its long-awaited stock market debut "very, very soon," its chairman said on Monday.

Aramco has said it plans to float around five percent of the state-owned company in 2020 or 2021 in what could potentially be the world's biggest stock sale.

"Aramco's IPO will take place sooner than you think," said Aramco chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan at a Saudi-Russian forum in Riyadh.

"I think that the announcement will be very, very soon." According to Bloomberg, Aramco's board is expected to give final approval by the end of this week to proceed with the sale.

The mammoth initial public offering (IPO) forms the cornerstone of a reform programme envisaged by the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to wean the Saudi economy off its reliance on oil.

It aims to raise up to USD 100 billion based on a USD 2 trillion valuation of the company, but investors have debated whether Aramco is worth that much and there have been repeated ...