A king-to-be's ransom

摘要

THE proposed sale of 5% of Saudi Aramco is not just likely to be the biggest initial public offering (ipo) of all time. "It's like Gibraltar selling the rock," as one expert on Saudi Arabia's oil policy puts it. The world's biggest oil company keeps the House of Saud in power, bankrolled 60% of the national budget last year, and is a paragon of efficiency in an economy otherwise mired in bureaucracy.