Saudi Aramco IPO plan is not yet quite the $10trn deal

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s revelation to The Economist that an initial public offering (IPO) for Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) was being considered unsurprisingly created a media frenzy, as journalists reminded readers just how large the oil giant is – even in comparison to global behemoths like ExxonMobil – and Saudi-focused investment bankers fended off calls from their directors asking why even the most bulge bracket of banks were not informed of the ‘deal of the century’.