Saudi Aramco becomes world's most valuable listed company, beats Apple

Saudi Arabia’s oil company Aramco became the most valuable listed company in the world after $25.6 billion was raised at the initial public offering (IPO) at Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange. It jumped 10 per cent, the daily limit, in its trading debut on December 11 and now its value stands at $1.88 trillion, nearly $700 billion more than Apple Inc. 

'Watershed moment'

The shares rose to 35.2 riyals ($8.53) after the Saudi state-owned oil company announced a sale of 1.5 per cent shares at 32 riyals. Saudi Aramco raised  $25.6 billion in the IPO leaving behind Alibaba’s $25 billion in 2014. Though the company has registered record IPO, it fell short of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s desired valuation of $2 trillion. Experts are calling it a ‘watershed moment’ for Saudi’s oil business that sustained the country’s economy for decades. In 2016, Prince Salman had floated the idea for raising as much as $100 billion through a public offering.

Read: Saudi Aramco Takes Another Step Toward 1st Public Offering

Founded in 1933, the company's 0.5 per cent of shares are reserved for individual investors while 1 per cent will go to institutional investors. Saudi Aramco’s value is now more than the top five oil companies combined. It has exclusive rights to produce and sell energy reserves. While introducing the IPO, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco Amin H Nasser, in a statement, has said that their mission was to provide the shareholders with long term value creation through crude oil price cycles by maintaining pre-eminence in oil and gas production, capturing additional value across the hydrocarbon value chain and profitably growing our portfolio.

Read: Saudi Aramco Stock Offering To Launch November 17

The public offering is the part of the Prince Salman’s plan to diversify its funds into non-energy industries like tourism and entertainment. After the drone attacks on Aramco oil facilities, there have been apprehensions of another such attack and that over-dependence on energy in such case could hit the economy hard. Recently, US Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth F McKenzie had warned about the threat in Gulf region saying Iran remains on the track to carry out large scale attack. 

Read: Saudi Arabia To Formally Start IPO Of Oil Firm Saudi Aramco

Read: Saudi Aramco IPO: Oil Giant To Sell 3% Of Its Shares To Public