Saudi Aramco IPO’s retail tranche oversubscribed

RIYADH: The retail portion of Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) has been oversubscribed, with orders reaching 38.1 billion Saudi riyals ($10.2 billion), lead manager Samba Capital said on Thursday.

The state oil giant plans to sell a 1.5% stake, or about 3 billion shares, and has said at least one-third of the sale is expected to be covered by retail investors, who have until Thursday to sign up.

With an indicative price of 30-32 riyals, the IPO is valued at as much as 96 billion riyals ($25.6 billion) and gives the firm a market value of $1.6-$1.7 trillion.

It will be the world’s biggest IPO if it tops the $25 billion set by China’s Alibaba in 2014.