Saudi Arabia confirms Aramco listing still ‘on track’

Saudi Arabia has said the stock market listing of state-owned oil giant Aramco remains "on track”, after reports it might shelve the public offering in favour of private share placing.

Saudi authorities said the £1.5tn partial floatation, likely to be the biggest in history, was still scheduled for 2018.

Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported that Aramco was considering halting a flotation in favour of selling shares privately to the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors.

 The listing is expected to be split between the Saudi stock market and one international exchange. The London Stock Exchange is wooing Aramco, but that is "controversial”, says the BBC.

MPs have expressed concern regulators are prepared to water down corporate governance rules in order to accommodate the huge floatation.

Under normal LSE rules, more than 25% of a company’s shares need to be listed, in an effort to stop a single shareholder wielding too much power, but Saudi authorities are planning to offer up just 5% of Aramco, "raising concerns about London having to bend the rules”, says the BBC.