Saudi Aramco Releases Preliminary IPO Prospectus, But Mystery Continues.

The company said it would sell up to 0.5% of its shares to retail investors, but did not give details such as the expected date and price of the papers.

Oil company Saudi Aramco announced late Saturday (9) the long-awaited preliminary prospectus for its IPO. In the 658-page document, the company said it would sell up to 0.5% of its shares to individual retail investors. But other than that, it did not disclose much more about the operation.

It is not known, for example, how much will be made available to institutional investors, the date of the offering of shares and not even the indicative price range of the papers.

Saudi Aramco is a giant that produces more than 10 million barrels of oil per day, or about 10 percent of global demand.

The company's IPO is expected to be the largest in history. To date, the record belongs to China's Alibaba, which raised $ 25 billion in a stock offering on the New Yokr Stock Exchange in 2014.

Aramco's IPO should take place on the Tadawul stock exchange in Saudi Arabia.