DUBAI: Saudi Aramco announced on Sunday that its initial public offering raised a record $29.4 billion, a figure higher than previously announced, after the company used a so-called “greenshoe option” to sell millions more shares to meet investor demand.
The company said that the sale of an additional 450 million shares took place during the initial public offering process.
The oil and gas company began publicly trading on the local Saudi Tadawul exchange on Dec. 11.
It hit upwards of $10 a share on the second day of trading.
This gave Aramco a market capitalization of $2 trillion, making it comfortably the world’s most valuable company.
Additional sales
Saudi Aramco’s additional sales mean the company has publicly floated 1.7 percent of its shares. Its IPO, even before the added sales, was the world’s largest ever.
A greenshoe option, or over-allotment, allows companies to issue more shares in an IPO when there is greater demand from participants in the initial offer. Investors were allocated the additional shares during book-building, Aramco said.
The shares sold in the over-allotment option “had been allocated to investors during the book-building process and therefore, no additional shares are being offered in the market today,” Saudi Aramco said.
FASTFACT
A greenshoe option, or over-allotment, allows companies to issue more shares in an IPO when there is greater demand from participants in the initial offer.
Company shares traded at around around SR34.7, or $9.25 a share, on Sunday.
Sunday’s trading figures value Saudi Aramco at $1.85 trillion, still well ahead of Apple, the second largest company in the world after the oil giant.
All major Gulf stock markets opened higher on Sunday, extending their gains from the previous session.
Saudi Arabia’s index rose 0.7 percent, outperforming regional peers and buoyed by gains in financial and petrochemical shares. Al-Rajhi Bank and Banquet Saudi Francis were up 0.6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
Advanced Petrochemical added 1.9 percent after reporting a 5.9 percent rise in estimated annual profit to SR759 million ($202 million).
Dubai’s index inched up 0.1 percent as blue-chip developer Emaar Properties gained 0.3 percent. Amanat Holdings rose 2.3 percent after the health care and education investment firm said it was assessing a possible acquisition of a stake in the Middle East operations of the VPS health care group.
Abu Dhabi’s index was also up 0.1 percent, with Emirates Telecom Group gaining 0.2 percent.
Kuwait’s and Oman’s stock markets will resume trading on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
