Russia to invest national pension savings in Saudi oil industry
The Russian population’s pension savings will be used to purchase shares in the initial public offering (IPO) of the Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco, which will finally take place in December, after three years of delays, reports finanz.ru.
On the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh on Tuesday, Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev mentioned that Russian pension funds are interested in buying Aramco shares.
“There’s definite interest from a number of Russian pension funds,” Dmitriev said, without clarifying whether VEB, which manages the assets of citizens who left their savings in Russia’s national pension fund, was among them.
Investors are now “waiting for the final parameters of the deal,” he noted. Alongside non-government pension funds, Russian investment banks and the Russia-China Investment Fund are preparing to participate in the IPO.
The Saudi government plans to hold Aramco’s IPO first on the local stock exchange, and then on an international platform, offering a total of 5% of the state-owned company’s shares, Interfax notes.
The Aramco IPO is expected to be the largest in history. Investors can start placing bids on December 4, and trading of the company’s shares will start on December 11, the TV channel Al Arabiya reported. Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority could officially announce the start of the procedure on Sunday, November 3.
The company could attract as much as $40 billion during the first stage, when it offers 2% of its shares.
In 2018, Saudi Aramco reported a net profit of $111 billion, making it the most profitable company in the world.