Saudi Aramco IPO unlikely to require rule changes regulator says

Saudi Aramco's planned flotation is unlikely to require any major changes to Saudia Arabia's securities rules, the vice chairman of the kingdom's market regulator said.

The kingdom's state oil giant is targeting 2018 for what is expected to be the world's biggest ever initial public offering, with a listing on both its home exchange and a foreign market among the options being discussed.

The move is part of Saudi Arabia's ambitious plans to diversify its economy away from oil, under the banner of Vision 2030, which includes a greater involvement of the private sector and improving the efficiency of state-owned companies.

Should a dual listing happen, some work might be needed involving the management of shares between two markets, such as the mechanics on the sharing of information on trades, Mohammed bin Abdullah Elkuwaiz of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia has never before had a dual listing involving a company listed on its bourse, which is known as the Tadawul.

"If there is a decision to list in another exchange, whether it is Aramco or any other company, there would be something that will need to be done, but most of this is more on the operations side not the regulatory side," he said.

Ultimately it will depend on the structure which Aramco decides to employ on its listing, but from what the CMA is anticipating there would be no need for additional rule changes, Elkuwaiz added.