Saudi Aramco Adds Another $3.8B To Its Record IPO As Underwriters Exercise Overallotment Option

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company raised another $3.8 billion in its initial public offering as the underwriters exercised the overallotment option given the high demand, it said in a statement on Sunday.

What Happened

Underwriters led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s GS Saudi Arabian subsidiary sold the 450 million shares, priced at $8.53, allocated to them during the bookkeeping process.

"[No] additional shares are being offered into the market today and the [Stabilizing] Manager (Goldman) will not hold any shares in the Company as a result of the exercise of the [overallotment] Option," Saudi Aramco, as the company is better known, said in the statement.

Aramco had raised $25.6 billion in its IPO in December.

The state-owned oil company sold 3 billion ordinary shares priced at $8.53 each -- making it the world's largest IPO ahead of Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.'s BABA $25 billion IPO in 2019.

The company's total raised amount in the IPO now stands at $29.4 billion.

Aramco's shares made tremendous gains when it began trading at the Tadawul stock exchange on December 11. The shares traded as high as $10.32, taking the company's valuation past the $2 billion touted by Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Since the shares are still trading higher than the IPO price, the company gets to keep the profits from the overallotment exercise.

Price Action

The stock is down significantly since the initial surge, trading 0.57% lower at $9.28 at press time, affected by the rising tensions between Iran and the United States.