Aramco shares start trading in Tadawul with 10% gain

By Ovunc Kutlu, Busranur Begcecanli

ANKARA (AA) - Saudi Arabia's national oil company Aramco started trading on Wednesday in the country's stock exchange Tadawul with the symbol 2222, and immediately posted a 10% gain in its share price, according to official data Wednesday.

After three years of delays, Saudi Aramco finally held its initial public offering (IPO) last week and raised a record $25.59 billion to surpass Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's IPO in 2014 in the New York Stock Exchange which raised $21.8 billion in a single day.

Saudi Aramco had offered 1.5% of its shares by issuing a total of 3 billion shares. The final offer price per share was determined at 32 Saudi riyals ($8.53), making the market value of the Saudi crown jewel at approximately $1.7 trillion, overtaking U.S. tech giant Apple to become the world's most valuable company.

At 1037 local time (0737 GMT) in Tadawul, Aramco shares were trading with a 10% increase at 35.2 Saudi riyals ($9.39), which raised the company's market value to around $1.87 trillion.

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said last week at the conclusion of the OPEC meeting that he expects Aramco's market capitalization to soon climb above $2 trillion -- a value that was set by his half-brother Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016 when he first introduced the idea of an IPO.

While floating Aramco shares in international markets such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and New York is a remote possibility at the moment, its offering in Tadawul makes the Saudi exchange the world's ninth biggest stock market, surpassing India and closing on Canada and Germany.

Aramco produces one in every eight barrels of oil in the world. Its net income surpassed the collective earnings of nine oil majors ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Eni, Equinor, Rosneft in 2018 and during the first half of 2019.

Saudi Aramco's net income reached $111.1 billion in 2018 and stood at $46.9 billion during the first half of this year.