Saudi Aramco IPO on track for 2018 launch: Al Falih

 Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s (Saudi Aramco) initial public offering (IPO) will likely take place in early 2018, as the government decides how to best optimize the company's value for potential shareholders, the kingdom's energy minister Khalid Al-Falih told reporters on Thursday.

“We have to optimize -- optimize for the kingdom’s interest as the owners of the company and the owners of the resource today, optimize for the investors who have to enter into this,” Al-Falih was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

No decision has been made yet on target markets for the listing, he explained, adding that the state-owned oil giant is not planning to seek strategic partners to participate in the offering, which will rather be open to all investors.

Al-Falih added that Aramco’s listing will lure foreign investors to the kingdom, and enable the company to scale up its upstream investments abroad.

Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had previously revealed that the kingdom was planning to sell a stake of less than 5 percent in Aramco, Argaam earlier reported.