Aramco (2222) shares rose more than 2% on Sunday, marking the first trading day following the company’s secondary share offering.
The offering is expected to raise at least $11.2 billion, making it the “largest transaction of its kind” globally in the past three years.
Details
The stock opened at 27.95 riyals, after closing the previous session on Thursday at 28.3 riyals.
It then increased to 28.35 riyals, with trading volumes about 1.66 billion shares.
The total value exceeded 45 billion riyals as of 12:55 PM Riyadh time.
The share price in the secondary offering was set at 27.25 riyals, the minimum of the specified price range.
So What
Bloomberg reported that approximately 60% of Aramco’s shares offered in the secondary sale were allocated to foreign investors.
This contrasts with the predominantly local character of the 2019 listing of the oil giant.
The offering of 1.545 billion shares, representing 0.64% of the company’s shares, saw strong demand from the US and Europe.
Funds from the UK, Hong Kong, and Japan supported the share sale.
The offering attracted total requests exceeding $65 billion.
Reuters earlier revealed that foreign demand for secondary shares surpassed that during Aramco’s historic IPO in 2019.
Some Context
The additional sale is part of the Kingdom’s effort, as the “world’s largest oil exporter,” to attract international investments.
This aims to invest tens of billions of dollars in major projects to diversify the national economy away from petroleum resources.
Now What
Following the offering, the government owns approximately 82% of Aramco.
The Public Investment Fund holds an additional 16% stake.
