Aramco’s ‘greenshoe option’ pushes IPO to record $29.4 billion
Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco announced Sunday that its initial public offering raised a record USD 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, which is majority owned by the state, began publicly trading on the local Saudi Tadawul exchange on December 11.
It hit upwards of USD 10 a share on the second day of trading. This gave Aramco a market capitalization of USD 2 trillion, making it comfortably the world’s most valuable company. Aramco’s additional sales mean the company has publicly floated 1.7 per cent of its shares.
