Petromin, the Middle East's oldest lubricants company, may sell shares to the public next year after Saudi owner Dabbagh Group cancelled a proposed 20 percent stake sale, two people familiar with the matter said. The offer may value Petromin at $700 million to $1 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Dabbagh scrapped an earlier plan to sell the stake ahead of the initial public offering (IPO), according to the people. Saudi Arabian companies are joining Gulf peers in planning share sales amid an increase in asset values and investor demand. ACWA Power International, a Saudi Arabian energy producer, hired Saudi Fransi Capital to advise on an IPO that could raise as much as $1.1 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said in March. The country's Public Investment Fund plans to sell a 15 per cent stake in Saudi Arabia's largest lender National Commercial Bank, chairman Mansoor Al Maiman said in March, in a listing seen raising as much as $5 billion. — SG
