The U.S. wants, needs the world’s largest-ever initial public offerings. That was the gist of a tweet by President Donald Trump on Saturday, who said he “would very much appreciate” Saudi Arabia bringing the IPO of state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco to New York.
Thus far, a decision hasn’t been made on where that listing – expected in 2018 – will take place. Saudi officials have said it could raise as much as $100 billion.
But there have also been doubts that the offering, of up to 5% of Aramco, will go ahead at all. Last month, multiple news outlets reported that Saudi Arabia could shelve those plans in favor of an offer by a Chinese investor to buy a stake in the world’s largest energy company.
Would very much appreciate Saudi Arabia doing their IPO of Aramco with the New York Stock Exchange. Important to the United States!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2017
Trump’s tweet came hours ahead of an lengthy tour of Asia. Bloomberg cited a person familiar with the company who said the comment was a surprise for Aramco.
This past week was meant to be the biggest week for IPOs in months, but after an upbeat start, fell flat as several stocks debuted below those offering prices. Eight companies went public in the week ending Nov. 3, the most since June.
