Saudi Arabia is pulling out all the stops to ensure the success of Aramco's initial public offering after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finally decided to offer shares in the world's largest oil producer.
The kingdom cut taxes on the company for a third time, revealed incentives for investors not to sell and is considering boosting dividends further. Yet the Saudi government has already conceded the company probably isn't worth the $2 trillion valuation Prince Mohammed has long advocated.
More than three years after the IPO was first mooted, Aramco published a so-called intention to float on Sunday, the most dramatic change to the Saudi oil industry since the company was nationalized in the 1970s. The IPO is a cornerstone of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 plan to make the Saudi economy ready for the post-oil era.