The Saudi Aramco logo and stock graph are visible through a magnifying glass in this image taken on September 4, 2022.
Dado Rubik | Reuters
Shares of Saudi Arabia’s Aramco rose on Sunday after a share sale that will boost the state oil company’s financing to about $11.2 billion.
At 1:40 PM local time (6:40 AM EST), the stock was trading at about 28.85 Saudi Riyals ($7.69) on the Tadawul Saudi Stock Exchange, higher than the stock offer price of 27.25 Saudi Rials. . The price was at the lower end of the initial 26.70-29 Saudi Riyal range.
It appears that there was no shortage of demand for the second public offering announced on May 30th. Reuters quoted a source as saying, “ demand for proposals It exceeded $65 billion, and Aramco left more than half of the sale to foreign investors. CNBC could not confirm the report.
It comes as Saudi Arabia presses ahead with ambitious plans to diversify its economy away from oil under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 program.
But the plan, which includes numerous “gigaprojects”, comes with a hefty price tag, with the future city of Neom expected to cost around $500 billion at its peak.
Meanwhile, volatility remains, with oil prices falling for a third week as uncertain demand outlook continues to weigh on them and investors push back on expectations of an interest rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed).
— CNBC’s Ruxandra Iordache contributed to this report.
