Royal London adds its weight to row over Saudi Aramco listing

The City is turning up the pressure on Saudi Aramco, insisting the listing rules should not be bent just to land the business for London.

Saudi Aramco wants to float just 5% of its shares, instead of the minimum 25% required for “premium” listings.

Fund management lobby groups have already come out against the Saudis, seeming willing to lose what would be a prestige float to New York.

On Thursday Royal London Asset Management, which looks after £105 billion, added its voice.

Ashley Hamilton Claxton, its corporate governance manager, said: “Any attempt to bend the listing rules in order to facilitate the IPO of Saudi Aramco is highly inappropriate and flagrantly ignores the principles which the UK’s listing rules were designed to defend. While the listing would be a prize asset on the exchange due to the sheer size of the firm, the attempt to list just 5% of the total share capital flies in the face of what is acceptable.”

Today, Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser gave a rare interview insisting the company would be open.

“We have always been transparent with our one shareholder, which is the government and with our board. When we are listed, and there are many shareholders we will be sharing data like any IPO-d company is doing, sharing data quarterly, when we share it, it will be a pleasant surprise for the rest of the industry,” he told the BBC.

Aramco’s accounts are not public top-end estimates put its value at $2 trillion.