Riyadh pulls Saudi Aramco IPO - Report

Saudi Arabia has pulled plans for a domestic and international listing of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco, Reuters reported, citing four industry sources.

The financial advisors preparing what had been expected to be the largest initial public share sale ever had also been disbanded, two of the sources also told Reuters.

Instead, the Kingdom was said to be shifting its efforts towards purchasing a stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp..

Another source reportedly said the IPO had merely been postponed, while yet another said the overall plan, given the magnitude of the operation, was to first postpone and afterwards cancel the plans.

JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and HSBC had been taken on as global coordinators for the sale, with stock exchanges in New York, London and Hong Kong having all made bids to host the overseas listing.