Don’t buy into Saudi oil giant Aramco

Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco would give the City a powerful boost, says Matthew Lynn. But here are three reasons why investors would be better off steering clear.

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More an instrument of an autocratic state than an investment

The bankers will already be thinking about how many houses in Kensington they could buy with the proceeds. The flotation of Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil giant, and on some measures the largest company in the world, looks set to be staged at least partly in London. The plans have not been finalised yet, but it is reported that 5% will be floated initially, at a price of $100bn or more, and that the shares will be listed in London, New York and Hong Kong.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.