How a $1.5 Trillion Aramco IPO Could Transform Global Stocks
- IPO seen as a game changer in the region, investor says
- Company market value would be almost twice that of Apple
Money managers in the Middle East are confident the sale of government-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. this year will shake up the global stock market with a record initial public offering that gives the world’s biggest company a valuation of about $1.5 trillion.
“People focus on Aramco as being the key thing,” said Salman Bajwa, chief executive officer of Dubai-based Emirates NBD Asset Management Ltd., which has $4.8 billion of assets. “In our eyes, it is just one of the several major changes taking place. We have landmark reforms going in the social, economic and markets space. The Aramco IPO will be the confirmation that one phase of structural reforms in the markets space has been successfully completed” because “there are going to be other IPOs, many of state-owned entities,” Bajwa said during an interview in his office last week.