London: Saudi Aramco will surpass Apple Inc. as the world’s biggest listed company when it debuts this week after a record-breaking initial public offering. Unlike the tech titan it displaces, barely any of its shares will trade.
The Gulf oil giant sold a 1.5 per cent stake in the IPO, while the remainder stays in the hands of the Saudi state. That free float, or the proportion of stock owned by public investors that can change hands, is among the lowest globally. Many of the biggest companies, from Amazon.com Inc. to Microsoft Corp., have more than 80 per cent of their equity owned by independent shareholders.
