Saudi Aramco IPO institutional tranche oversubscribed more than twice

Institutional investors have put in 144.1 billion riyals ($38.4 billion) worth of bids for Saudi Aramco’s planned initial public offering (IPO), equivalent to more than twice the number of shares on sale, financial advisers for the IPO said on Monday.

The bookbuilding process for allocating shares to institutional buyers – typically asset managers, insurers or pension funds – began on Nov. 17 and investors have until Dec. 4 to place orders. Aramco plans to sell 1.5% of its shares in a deal that could raise up to $25.6 billion.

The state-owned Saudi oil giant has received subscription orders for around 4.6 billion of shares so far from institutions, Samba Capital, NCB Capital and HSBC Saudi Arabia said.