Members of the media talk before the start of a press conference held by Saudi Aramco at the Dhahran Square Convention Center in Saudi Arabia on November 3, 2019.
Hamad I Mohammed | Reuters
Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco plans to re-sell shares worth $100-20 billion as soon as this week The Wall Street Journal reports Tuesday night, a person familiar with the matter was quoted as saying.
The Saudi government and its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, own the vast majority of Aramco, with only 1.5% of the company’s shares publicly traded on the Tadawul stock exchange following the company’s 2019 initial public offering.
The sale raised a record $29.4 billion and remains the largest IPO in history to date. Aramco is the world’s largest oil company in terms of daily oil production and market capitalization.
The new sale reportedly comes at a good time for Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco had no comment when contacted by CNBC.
If the offering goes ahead, it would ease some of the financial pressure on the kingdom, at least in the short term, according to the Wall Street Journal. In May, Saudi Arabia forecast a budget deficit of 79 billion Saudi riyals ($21 billion) this year, with fiscal deficits also expected in 2025 and 2026.
Read the full report here.
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