Saudi Arabia Plans To Sell Shares Of Aramco To Boost Public Investment Fund - Crown Prince

Saudi Arabia Plans to Sell Shares of Aramco to Boost Public Investment Fund - Crown Prince

Saudi Arabia is planning to sell more shares of its state-run energy giant Saudi Aramco to raise funds for the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said on Thursday

DOHA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2021) Saudi Arabia is planning to sell more shares of its state-run energy giant Saudi Aramco to raise funds for the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said on Thursday.

Saudi Aramco conducted the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history in December 2019. The company managed to raise $25.6 billion while listing 1.7 percent of its shares.

"In the upcoming years, Saudi Aramco will conduct new IPOs as a part of the plan to invest these funds into the Public Investment Fund for their redeployment inside and outside the kingdom in the interest of the fund," the crown prince said at a conference titled "Future Investment Initiative."

The crown prince added that a new IPO would allow Saudi Arabia to double the income of the PIF in the next five years up to $1.1 trillion.

Saudi Aramco's market value is assessed at $1.9 trillion, with the company being overtaken only by the US-based Apple that reached $2.0 trillion in April. The company currently sits on the second-largest proven oil reserve of about 260 million barrels, behind only Venezuela with over 300 billion barrels.

Although Saudi Arabia is an oil-wealthy Arab state, the kingdom invests huge sums in its Public Investment Fund that was founded in 1971 and now is actively engaged in the implementation of projects in the spheres of green technology and renewable energy.