AFP – Oil giant Saudi Aramco yesterday kicked off a secondary share offering that could fetch nearly USD12 billion, bolstering state finances amid ambitious economic reforms.
The firm last Thursday disclosed plans to sell 1.545 billion shares on the Saudi stock market, priced between SAD26.70 and SAD29 (USD7 to USD7.70).
Yestersday marked the beginning of the book-building period for investors inside and outside the kingdom, Aramco said in a statement, allowing officials to gauge demand.
Meetings with institutional investors were set to run through on Thursday while about 10 per cent of the shares would be offered to retail investors from Monday, the statement said.
The final offer price will be announced on Friday and the shares will begin trading yesterday, it said. It is the firm’s second listing after an initial public offering in December 2019 that raised USD25.6 billion, the biggest flotation in history.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude oil exporter and currently owns 82.18 per cent of Aramco’s shares, though that amount will fall to around 81.5 per cent after the second share sale, yesterday statement said.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, is depending on Aramco’s profits to finance a sweeping economic and social reform programme known as Vision 2030, which aims to lay the groundwork for an eventual post-oil future.
Flagship projects include NEOM, the futuristic mega-city being built in the desert at a cost of at least USD500 billion, a giant airport in Riyadh and major tourism and leisure developments.
In 2022 Prince Mohammed announced the transfer of a four-per-cent chunk of Aramco shares, estimated to be worth around USD80 billion, to the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Last year, the kingdom announced the transfer of a second four-per-cent portion of shares to Sanabil Investments, a firm controlled by the PIF.
