Aramco raises $11.2bn from secondary share offering

Reuters/Ahmed Yosri

Saudi Aramco closed its secondary share offering on Tuesday, securing SAR42.1 billion ($11.2 billion) for the government exchequer.

The proceeds from the offering will rise to SAR46.31 billion if the over-allotment option is exercised in full.

The offering was the largest secondary offering in Europe, Middle East and Africa since 2000 and the largest equity offering in the Middle East after Aramco’s own initial public offering in 2019, the company said.

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The transaction achieved the goals of diversifying and broadening Aramco’s shareholder base, with strong participation from new international and local investors, said president and CEO Amin Nasser.

The world’s largest oil producer sold a 0.64 percent stake, or 1.545 billion shares, via the secondary offering. Nearly 154.5 million shares have been allocated to retail investors.

The retail offering received a total of 1.33 million subscribers at the final offer price of SAR27.25.

A minimum of 10 shares will be allocated to each subscriber, with the remaining shares to be allocated on a pro-rata basis with an average allocation factor of about 25 percent.

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Aramco said this week that the majority of the shares allocated to the institutional tranche went to investors outside Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) reported that it negotiated deals worth SAR42.1 billion in Aramco on June 9.

Merrill Lynch Saudi Arabia, the stabilising manager for the offering, has announced plans to stabilise the share sale by purchasing up to 155 million shares from the government using the “greenshoe” over-allotment option.

The offer price will remain at SAR27.25, and the stabilisation period is expected to last a month from June 9.