National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Exchange (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is one of the leading providers of trading, clearing, exchange technology, listing, information and public company, services across all continents. Nasdaq is contending for the flotation of the international listing of the world’s biggest Initial Public Offering IPO from a Saudi Arabian oil producer, Saudi Aramco in the second half of 2018.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Adena Friedman did not explicitly state, but alluded to their interest on Monday at the World Government Summit in Dubai when she stated “Companies want to be part of the future, they don’t necessarily want to be part of the past… We are extremely proud of all the companies that choose to come to Nasdaq, but we don’t comment on any specific issuer.”
Saudi Aramco is a state-owned oil company of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a fully integrated global petroleum and chemicals enterprise. Saudi Aramco’s oil and gas production infrastructure leads the industry in the scale of production, operational reliability and technical advances. Furthermore, the company is the world’s largest crude oil exporter, producing roughly one in every eight barrels of the world’s oil supply. The company aims to raise USD 100 billion from its planned IPO.
Aramco President and CEO, Amin Nasser, in an interview with Consumer News and Business Channel CNBC, said “It’s about evaluating all the information that is being passed to the government in terms of different markets that we have in terms of listed venues, whether it is in the U.K., or New York or Hong Kong or other markets,”.
According to Nasser, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is at the top list of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as it offers certain amenities such as international recognition, prestige and a much bigger pool of investors. Moreover, other options include listing the company on Saudi Arabian’s Tadawul Stock Exchange which has an affiliation with Nasdaq.
Possibly having the biggest IPO ever and being the largest oil/energy company, Saudi Aramco, if listed on NASDAQ, will turn heads around the world. With that being said, oil is a very volatile commodity, so despite very good credentials, this company should be watched very closely.
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