IPO Saudi Aramco shares surge 10% on debut

DUBAI/ RIYADH: Saudi Aramco shares surged the maximum permitted 10% above their IPO price on their Riyadh stock market debut on Wednesday, closing in on the $2 trillion valuation long sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The shares leapt to 35.2 riyals ($9.39) each, up from the initial public offering (IPO) price of 32 riyals and at the daily limit of price moves allowed by the Tadawul exchange. That gives the state-owned oil giant a market value of about $1.88 trillion, comfortably making it the world’s most valuable listed company, although it will have one of the smallest “free floats” of publicly tradeable shares, at just 1.5%.

The market value is more than six times that of US oil major Exxon Mobil Corp; more than twice the size of Saudi Arabia’s annual gross domestic product; and far ahead of US tech giant Apple’s market value of about $1.2 trillion.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) raised a record $25.6 billion in its IPO last week, the culmination of a years-long effort by the Crown Prince to open up the energy giant to outside investors and raise funds to help diversify the economy away from oil.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2019.

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