Aramco shares jump 10pc on market debut
OIL AND GAS NEWS
Saudi Aramco shares surged the maximum permitted 10% above their initial public offering (IPO) price on their Riyadh stock market debut today, closing in on the $2 trillion valuation long sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The shares leapt to SR35.2 ($9.39) each, up from the IPO price of SR32 and at the daily limit of price moves allowed by the Tadawul exchange, a Reuters report said.
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%.
By comparison, US oil major Exxon Mobil has a market capitalization of less than $300 billion, while US tech giant Apple is valued at about $1.2 trillion.
Saudi 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.
