Saudi regulator approves Aramco's request to list

RIYADH

Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) on Sunday approved Aramco's request for initial public offering (IPO).

In a statement, CMA said the company's prospectus will be published prior to the start of the subscription period.

The IPO is part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 initiative to steer his country away from oil dependency. He aims to raise $100 billion from a 5% sale of Aramco, which would make it the world's most valuable firm by market capitalization.

Saudi Arabia aims at reducing economic reliance on oil incomes as part of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 plan.

Drone attacks on the kingdom's crown jewel Saudi Aramco on Sept. 14 raised uncertainty about the IPO calendar since there are security concerns regarding how the kingdom would protect the world's most valuable company.

The attacks crippled 5.7 million barrels per day (mbpd) of production, which was around 60% of output in Saudi oil industry.