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A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 5 sepTember 2019
A look at Saudi Aramco’s much anticipated, delayed IPO

By AYA BATRAWY company would face au-
Associated Press dits and be held to a level
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- of transparency that the
ates (AP) — Saudi Arabia is Saudi government, led by
renewing its push to public- the royal family, may seek
ly sell shares of Saudi Aram- to avoid. It could also face
co, the state-owned oil firm lawsuits in the U.S., where
that’s seen as the country’s Congress passed a bill al-
crown jewel. lowing families of Sept. 11
Crown Prince Mohammed victims to sue the kingdom
bin Salman is the architect for the attacks if found le-
of the effort to list Aramco, gally liable.
touting it as a way to raise ___
capital for the kingdom’s WHAT DOES AN IPO MEAN
sovereign wealth fund, FOR SAUDI ARABIA?
which would then develop The crown prince has said
new cities and lucrative the goal of publicly listing
projects across Saudi Ara- part of Aramco is to make
bia. the kingdom less depen-
It’s part of a high stakes dent on oil for revenue.
economic transforma- Prince Mohammed has
tion spearheaded by the said that ownership of Ar-
prince, who as heir to the In this Sept. 25, 1990 file photo, oil pipelines snake through the port area of the Aramco facility at amco will be transferred
throne is racing to reduce Ras Tannura, Saudi Arabia. to the kingdom’s Public In-
youth unemployment and Associated Press vestment Fund, aiding the
prepare the kingdom for a Here’s a closer look at Ar- at more than $2 trillion, but and an international ex- sovereign wealth fund’s
future that’s less reliant on amco’s much-anticipated even as analysts estimate a change. ability to raise money to re-
oil for survival. IPO. figure closer to $1.5 billion He initially said the IPO invest in domestic projects.
As Aramco moves toward ___ or less, it would still be the could happen as early as When Aramco earnings are
a possible IPO in the com- WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC world’s biggest IPO. 2017. The kingdom now transferred to the sovereign
ing years, a new board KNOW ABOUT ARAMCO’S Meanwhile, an indepen- says the IPO could happen wealth fund, Saudi revenue
chairman was named this WORTH? dent audit showed Saudi in 2020 or 2021. will be technically drawn
week in an effort to put dis- Aramco gave a rare Arabia has 268.5 billion Saudi Arabia has not said from investments rather
tance between the com- glimpse into its financials barrels of proven crude oil which international ex- than oil. Some analysts,
pany and the government. this year, revealing net reserves as of the end of change it will list Aramco however, say this is merely
The company also recently profits of $111 billion and 2017. Aramco produced on. Several indications a shift in balance sheets
released its earnings figures revenue close to $356 bil- about 10.3 million barrels point to Hong Kong or rather than an actual move
for the first time in recent lion for 2018. By contrast, per day of crude oil in 2018. Tokyo as the preferred to lessen the government’s
memory, showing Aramco Apple booked a net profit ___ choice, in part because dependence on oil rev-
to be the world’s most prof- of about $60 billion in its last WHEN AND WHERE IS THE there’s a huge and grow- enues and that, ultimately,
itable company. It also an- full year, Royal Dutch Shell IPO? ing demand for Saudi oil in the crown prince’s ability
nounced the acquisition of had net income of $23 bil- The crown prince first an- Asian markets. to transform the economy
a nearly $70 billion stake in lion and Exxon Mobil $21 nounced in 2016 that up to London and New York is not dependent on an
Saudi petrochemical firm billion. 5% of the company would stock exchanges have also Aramco IPO, but on good
SABIC, which would boost Prince Mohammed has put be listed on the Saudi courted an Aramco list- governance and a vibrant
its downstream business. Aramco’s overall valuation Tadawul stock exchange ing, but the state-owned private sector.q

Israeli PM pays pre-election trip to volatile West Bank city

By MOSHE EDRI Nazi Germany for “free of amid tens of thousands of
Associated Press Jews.” Palestinians.
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) “We are not strangers in Relations between the
— Israel’s prime minister Hebron, we will remain sides are poor. In 1994,
visited the volatile West here forever,” he said, a Jewish ultranationalist
Bank city of Hebron under speaking at a podium militant carried out a mass
tight security on Wednes- flanked by bullet-proof shooting in the Ibrahimi
day in a move widely per- shielding. The prime minis- Mosque, killing 29 worship-
ceived as a bid to garner ter’s office said Netanya- pers and wounding scores
support from ultranation- hu’s security detail deter- of others before he was
alists ahead of elections in mined the level of protec- killed. The city remains a
less than two weeks. tion for his visit to the West frequent flashpoint of vio-
Benjamin Netanyahu de- Bank city. lence.
livered a speech outside a Under interim peace ac- In his first visit to the city
contested holy site known cords of the 1990s, Hebron since 1998, Netanyahu at-
to Jews as the Tomb of the is divided between Israeli tended a memorial cer-
Patriarchs and to Muslims and Palestinian zones of emony marking the 90th Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, gestures as he
as the Ibrahimi Mosque. control. anniversary of a massacre speaks during a ceremony near Hebron’s holiest site, known
He said that Hebron would Hundreds of ultranation- of Hebron’s Jewish com- to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the
not become “Juden- alist Israeli settlers live in munity in which 67 people Ibrahimi Mosque in the Israeli controlled part of the West Bank
city of Hebron, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019.
rein” — a term used by heavily guarded enclaves were killed.q Associated Press