Saudi Aramco aims to announce the start of its initial public offering (IPO) on Nov. 3, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, after delaying the deal earlier this month to give advisers time to secure cornerstone investors. The people also said Aramco's chief executive officer, Amin Nasser, was not present at the conference on Tuesday as he was meeting investors abroad ahead of the offering. Aramco is looking to float a 1 percent to 2 percent stake on the Kingdom's Tadawul market, in what would be one of the largest ever public offerings, worth upward of $20 billion. Aramco, in response to queries by Reuters, said on Tuesday the oil company "does not comment on rumor or speculation. The company continues to engage with the shareholders on IPO readiness activities. The company is ready and timing will depend on market conditions and be at a time of the shareholders' choosing." The company will soon have more shareholders from institutions, the head of the Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, Yassir Al-Rumayyan, said. Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and chairman of Aramco's board of directors, was speaking at a panel at the conference in Riyadh. Aramco will start subscription for investors in its initial public offering on Dec. 4, Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya said in a news flash on Tuesday citing sources. The oil giant plans to announce the transaction's price on Nov. 17, it added. The company will begin trading on the local stock market, the Tadawul, on Dec. 11, the broadcaster reported. Russia's sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), is working on a consortium of investors for Aramco's IPO, its chief executive said. "There are several Russian pensions funds who are interested to invest in the Aramco IPO and we have also received indications from our Russia-China fund of some Chinese major institutions also interested in Aramco IPO," Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) head Kirill Dmitriev told reporters on Tuesday. — Reuters
