Saudi Aramco says foreigners grab 'majority' of share offering

Riyadh: Oil giant Saudi Aramco said Sunday that international investors had snatched up the bulk of shares sold in its latest offering, which was set...

Riyadh: Oil giant Saudi Aramco said Sunday that international investors had snatched up the bulk of shares sold in its latest offering, which was set to raise $11.2 billion.

"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 before shares were to begin trading on the Saudi bourse as it reopens on Sunday.

Sources close to the situation told AFP that around 58 percent of shares were allocated to international investors, up from around 23 percent for the company's initial public offering in 2019 which was the biggest flotation in history.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information, said around 70 percent of orders outside the local market came from the European Union and the United States, while others came from Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.

Aramco, the mostly state-owned jewel of the Saudi economy, announced on May 30 it would sell 1.545 billion shares, or approximately 0.64 percent of its issued shares, on the Saudi stock exchange.