Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved the initial public offering of state oil giant Aramco, in a move that the CMA said would be valid for at least six months.
In a statement on Sunday, the CMA also said that Aramco’s prospectus is due to be published in the run-up to the beginning of the subscription period.
The move comes a day after Reuters cited unnamed sources as saying that “Crown Prince [Mohammed bin Salman] finally gave the green light” to Aramco’s IPO.
Plans for the decision were first announced in 2016 as part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic overhaul programme but have been delayed a number of times.
Riyadh reportedly expects the IPO to value the oil giant at some $2 trillion, the largest such valuation in history, which would allow the company to raise as much as $100 billion by listing just a 5 percent stake.
The oil facilities belonging to Aramco were attacked in mid-September, which resulted in a temporary sharp decrease in the kingdom's oil output.
The Yemeni rebel Houthi movement claimed responsibility for the attack. Riyadh blamed the incident on Iran, which for its part denied allegations.