Arab News

RIYADH: Saudi Aramco’s shares opened higher on June 9, the first trading day after a secondary share offering expected to raise at least $11.2 billion. 

The shares commenced trading at SR27.95 each, after concluding the prior session on Thursday at SR28.3, subsequently reaching SR28.35 by 10:30 am Saudi time. The final price for the secondary share sale was set at SR27.25, toward the lower end of the specified price range. 

This comes as the company has announced the allocation of 0.73 percent of its 1.545 billion issued shares to international institutional investors. 

The oil giant stated that after the final allocation of the fully marketed offering, most shares in the institutional tranche were assigned to investors outside the Kingdom. 

In addition to the international allocation, Saudi Aramco has allocated 0.89 percent of its issued shares to domestic institutional investors and 0.76 percent to retail investors. 

“The majority of the shares constituting the institutional tranche of the offering was allocated to investors located outside of the Kingdom,” the company said in a statement. 

In a press release, Aramco said that institutional investors, both international and domestic, include entities that have acquired shares through the initial public offering, or open market purchases since then. 

Retail investors consist of individual investors, including high-net-worth individuals, who have similarly purchased shares through the IPO, or open market transactions. 

The statement further disclosed that approximately 97.62 percent of the issued shares are held by other shareholders, including the Saudi government. 

Aramco said the move aligns with its strategic vision to become the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals company.  

It aims to strengthen its global position by maintaining its oil production, expanding its gas production capacity, and integrating its upstream and downstream operations to secure demand for its crude oil.  

The company said it is enhancing the resilience and strategic integration of its refining and chemicals portfolios to capture more value across the hydrocarbon value chain and improve the balance of its fuels and chemicals production.