Saudis Threaten To Move Aramco IPO Elsewhere Due To “Concerns” Over Trump, Sept 11 Law
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Dec 16, 2016
Aside from Hillary Clinton of course, the single biggest loser from the November 8 presidential election in terms of net sunk costs, was Saudi Arabia: having “donated” tens of millions to the Clinton Foundation, and sponsored her presidential campaign directly, Riyadh was hoping for many long and fruitful years of quid pro quo in exchange for its recycled petrodollar generosity. Instead, the Saudis got not only president Trump, who has made it public he wants a clean break with a US foreign policy which panders to such Mid-east “allies” as the Saudi, but also the recent passage of legislation that could – and already has – allowed U.S. terror victims to sue Saudi Arabia.
As a result, a suddenly snubbed Saudi Arabia, is reassessing its multibillion-dollar U.S. financial strategy because of shifts in the American political landscape, including whether to go elsewhere with the public stock debut of its state oil company the WSJ reports.
In monetary terms, this means that Saudi Arabia’s giant sovereign-wealth fund has paused its U.S. investments until they can figure out the implications of the bill and the new direction of the White House, the WSJ said citing a person familiar with the fund’s decision making.
And, in what is an attempt to engage in a negotiation with the Trump administration, Saudi Arabia has already unveiled what it will use as a bargaining chip to make Trump warm up to Suadi diplomatic overtures: the initial public offering of Saudi Arabian Oil Company, the world’s biggest oil producer better known as Aramco, which is tentatively set for next year or 2018, and could raise more than $100 billion in proceeds, ranking as the largest in IPO history. The prospect has set banks scrambling for a deal that could bring $1 billion in fees.
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