Aramco IPO could raise $106b for wealth fund

Dubai - Public Investment Fund to control over $2 trillion of assets

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund could receive $106 billion in cash from the sale to the public of a five per cent stake in oil giant Aramco's parent company, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
"Suitable investors in Aramco could be long-term institutional investors such as the Canadian pensions, or even Asian sovereign wealth funds," the Las Vegas-based consultant and researcher said in a report released on Thursday. "If an Aramco deal goes through, it could be a blueprint for other Saudi state-owned entities to follow, thus potentially increasing the cash pot of the Public Investment Fund while enlarging domestic markets."
The kingdom's Public Investment Fund, which will eventually control more than $2 trillion of assets once the government transfers its ownership of Aramco to the fund, was set up in 1971 to finance development projects that would help make the country less dependent on oil.