State-owned oil company Saudi Aramco gained an additional $3.8 billion from its record initial public offering (IPO) after its greenshoe option that allows the issuing of more shares in the IPO, according to the company's statement on Sunday.
The company, through its greenshoe or over-allotment option, allocated 450 million more shares to investors during the book-building process as part of efforts to support the price for a month in the market, the oil giant said. Saudi Aramco sold 3 billion shares at 32 Saudi riyals ($8.53) in its December IPO to raise a total of $25.6 billion.
Aramco’s IPO is now worth $29.4 billion and has overtaken the previous record holder, Chinese online commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which was valued in 2014 at $25 billion. Aramco shares have come under pressure amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, which has negatively affected Gulf markets.
The U.S. confirmed on Jan. 2 that it carried out a strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, in Iraq. On Wednesday Jan. 8, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Al-Asad and Erbil in Iraq.
Aramco shares fell to their lowest cost since trading began on Dec. 11 at 34 riyals per share on Jan. 8. Shares closed on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 34.80 riyals, valuing the company at $1.856 trillion, above the IPO price but below Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's $2 trillion target for the IPO.
(Anadolu Agency)
