China Petroleum, Sinopec, ExxonMobil, and British Petroleum could be potentially bidding to take strategic shares in Saudi Aramco, as the company plans to float a 5% stake on three international markets, Chinese daily Standard reported.
As the Saudi bourse is too small to absorb such a large deal, Aramco is planning a three-way foreign listing, in the Hong Kong, London and New York stock markets.
It is estimated the oil giant’s proposed IPO will become the world’s largest ever by at least 5 times any previous listing.
Aramco has been valued at $2tn to $2.5tn, depending on the oil price figure one uses to evaluate the 260 billion barrels of oil reserves the company claims it has.
A 5% equity in the firm is valued at $100bn to $150bn.Â
The listing won’t take place until 2017, according to reports.
The move is part of the Kingdom’s reform plan, Vision 2030, unveiled recently by Deputy Crownb Prince Mohammad bin Salman.Â
