Riyadh – Saudi Aramco netted USD 12.35 billion, USD 1 billion more than expected, from a secondary share sale after exercising an over-allotment option, the deal’s stabilizing manager said.
A secondary sale is a sale by an existing stockholder to a third-party purchaser.
An additional 154.5 million shares were issued in response to demand from investors, Merrill Lynch Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said, taking the total number to nearly 1.7 billion.
The offering announced in May was the largest in the Middle East since Aramco’s record initial public offering (IPO) in 2019, bolstering Saudi Arabia’s finances as it spends heavily to pivot its oil-reliant economy.
“Following the exercise of the over-allotment option, the total offering size will be 1,699,500,000 shares, representing a total offering amount of SAR 46.31 billion (USD 12.35 billion),” Merrill Lynch Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said in a statement.
Aramco: mostly state-owned
Although remaining mostly state-owned, Aramco announced on May 30 that it would sell 1.545 billion shares, or about 0.64% of its issued shares, on the Saudi stock exchange.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude oil exporter and the government’s stake in Aramco, one of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, is around 81.5% after the second share sale.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda