RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the transfer of 4 percent of Saudi Aramco shares to the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, state news agency SPA reported on Sunday.
The crown prince said the state remains the largest shareholder in Saudi Aramco after the transfer process, as it owns more than 94 percent of the company's shares.
Aramco said in a boruse filing that "this is a private transfer between the State and PIF, and the Company is not a party to the transfer and did not enter into any agreements or pay or receive any proceeds from the transfer."
It added that the transfer will not affect the company’s total number of issued shares, and "the shares transferred will rank equally alongside other existing ordinary shares in the Company."
Aramco assured shareholders that the transfer does not have an impact on "the Company’s operations, strategy, dividends distribution policy or governance framework."
“The PIF has a spending obligation and I think it will use this portion to finance the said spending obligations” said Mohammed Al Suwayed, CEO of Razeen Capital.
The fund can benefit from these shares by different means “this portion can be sold privately to interested parties” he said.
Al Suwayed doesn’t expect a significant impact on Aramco’s shares yet as he believes that the share price is now hanging by a thread to the dividend policy.
