8 ms·

Paywall so couldn’t read full article. If someone buys during IPO, what prevents Saudi government from just running away with investors money?

steve19 7y ago
Like with sovereign bond defaulters or countries who have nationalised US owned assets: they would get sued in US courts. US courts would freeze and/or confiscate Saudi assets. Saudi Princes might find yatchs, private planes and super cars start getting impounded wherever lawsuits can be filed.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  This is only listing on Riyadh’s stock exchange Good luck with jumping through all those hoops to invest and expecting recourse
  - ChainOfFools 7y ago
    what would prevent it from getting rolled up in an ETF and listed on, say, Nasdaq?
    - throwaway2048 7y ago
      that does nothing to protect the underlying asset.
- darkteflon 7y ago
  The Saudis engaged in a widely-publicised example of state-sanctioned murder of a US journalist last year with limited repercussions. I’d think twice before trusting in the rule of law where our politically expedient friends are concerned.
  - twic 7y ago
    Right, but in the US, there's a big difference between murdering someone and taking investors' money.
  - m0zg 7y ago
    Khashoggi wasn't a "US journalist" or a US citizen. He was a Saudi citizen, and he was killed on foreign soil. As despicable as the events were, let's not lose track of the facts here. WaPo calls him a "Saudi journalist and author": https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jamal-khashoggi/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jamal-khashoggi/ If you're appalled by this murder, do recall that our lord and savior Barack Obama droned US citizens he didn't like without trial in Yemen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki So I'd say such extrajudicial executions are about par for the course for nation states.
    - simonh 7y ago
      It looks like the actual target of the drone was the Egyptian al-Banna. In any case, IMHO either you are able to target active terrorists without judicial overview or you're not, whatever their citizenship. I'm a Brit, so no skin in that particular issue, but for the record I have no problem with British jihadists that joined ISIS getting bombed. They made their choice.
      - m0zg 7y ago
        I'm sure most Saudis don't have any problem with Khashoggi's killing either, for reasons that aren't too dissimilar to yours.
        simonh 7y ago
        The Jihadis are murderous terrorists actively killing and sexually enslaving people. Khashogi was a journalist, and a very brave, honest and ethical one from what I can tell. I don’t see the similarity.
    - lostlogin 7y ago
- throwaway2048 7y ago
  They might find that a completely acceptable tradeoff for hundreds of billions of dollars. Believing the Saudi government cares about the rule of law is a questionable proposition at best.

steve19 7y ago

Like with sovereign bond defaulters or countries who have nationalised US owned assets: they would get sued in US courts. US courts would freeze and/or confiscate Saudi assets. Saudi Princes might find yatchs, private planes and super cars start getting impounded wherever lawsuits can be filed.

rolltiide 7y ago
This is only listing on Riyadh’s stock exchange Good luck with jumping through all those hoops to invest and expecting recourse
- ChainOfFools 7y ago
  what would prevent it from getting rolled up in an ETF and listed on, say, Nasdaq?
  - throwaway2048 7y ago
    that does nothing to protect the underlying asset.
darkteflon 7y ago
The Saudis engaged in a widely-publicised example of state-sanctioned murder of a US journalist last year with limited repercussions. I’d think twice before trusting in the rule of law where our politically expedient friends are concerned.
- twic 7y ago
  Right, but in the US, there's a big difference between murdering someone and taking investors' money.
- m0zg 7y ago
  Khashoggi wasn't a "US journalist" or a US citizen. He was a Saudi citizen, and he was killed on foreign soil. As despicable as the events were, let's not lose track of the facts here. WaPo calls him a "Saudi journalist and author": https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jamal-khashoggi/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jamal-khashoggi/ If you're appalled by this murder, do recall that our lord and savior Barack Obama droned US citizens he didn't like without trial in Yemen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki So I'd say such extrajudicial executions are about par for the course for nation states.
  - simonh 7y ago
    It looks like the actual target of the drone was the Egyptian al-Banna. In any case, IMHO either you are able to target active terrorists without judicial overview or you're not, whatever their citizenship. I'm a Brit, so no skin in that particular issue, but for the record I have no problem with British jihadists that joined ISIS getting bombed. They made their choice.
    - m0zg 7y ago
      I'm sure most Saudis don't have any problem with Khashoggi's killing either, for reasons that aren't too dissimilar to yours.
      - simonh 7y ago
        The Jihadis are murderous terrorists actively killing and sexually enslaving people. Khashogi was a journalist, and a very brave, honest and ethical one from what I can tell. I don’t see the similarity.
  - lostlogin 7y ago
throwaway2048 7y ago
They might find that a completely acceptable tradeoff for hundreds of billions of dollars. Believing the Saudi government cares about the rule of law is a questionable proposition at best.