Summary: I met and talked with CNBC’s Natasha Turak in Abu Dhabi about the Aramco IPO. The stock’s launch on the Saudi stock exchange was the hot topic at the SALT conference there. The interesting day, however, will come in early 2020 when it is listed in New York or London where disinterested global investors will give the price their stamp of approval. You can see Natasha’s column on our discussion by clicking here.
Aramco’s record-breaking IPO is ‘not exactly a free market price,’ investor says.
KEY POINTS:
- Shares went up to the maximum allowed for the world’s largest-ever IPO at its launch, surging 10% on Wednesday and again on Thursday to briefly hit a valuation of $2 trillion before paring gains.
- Weak international interest and suspicions of heavily government-influenced local demand have raised the question of how genuinely successful the public listing really is.
JR
