Saudi Aramco shares trade higher after share offering

Saudi Aramco’s shares gained on Sunday (Jun 9), the first trading day after a secondary share offering expected to raise at least US$11.2 billion.

The shares opened at 27.95 riyals a share, after closing the previous session on Thursday at 28.3 riyals, but climbed to 28.35 riyals by 0730 GMT. The secondary share sale’s final price was set at 27.25 riyals, towards the lower end of the given price range.

Saudi Arabia placed over half of the Aramco share sale with foreign investors, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday. One of them said that multiple orders came from the United States, Britain, Hong Kong and Japan.

The world’s top oil exporter has been seeking to lure international investment to pour tens of billions of dollars into projects to diversify away from its reliance on oil. Yet foreign investment has repeatedly missed targets.

Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 is funding endeavours as diverse as electric vehicles to building futuristic cities in the desert, mainly via the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The US$925 billion sovereign fund, after scaling back some of its flagship giga-projects, aims to sharpen its focus to drive forward the vision.

Proceeds from the share sale are likely to be funnelled to the PIF, sources and analysts have said, though funds could also help plug the kingdom’s budget deficit which has risen as the oil price has weakened. REUTERS