After Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco started trading its shares on the Tadawul, its shares soared due to demand from investors, pushing its valuation to $1.88 trillion. This makes Aramco the most valuable listed company in the world, overtaking the likes of Microsoft and Apple.
Aramco’s shares began trading at the Tadawul at 10:30 am on Wednesday.
The oil behemoth surpassed its earlier valuation of $1.7 trillion which was announced when share pricing was disclosed last week at the top of the market range. However, the $1.88 trillion valuation is still below the coveted $2 trillion valuation which was aimed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told the media, “We are progressing based on what was decided, which is to price Aramco at 32 riyals per share, which was agreed based on full analysis and evaluation.”
“We are happy with the results today. And you have seen the market respond to our results, the company will continue to be the leader globally when it comes to the energy sector and at the same time, we are looking at sustained and growing dividends to our investors. At the same time, we continue our growth strategy, increasing profitability across cycles.”
Earlier, Aramco raised $25.6 billion in its IPO, which was the world’s biggest. Aramco sold 1.5 percent of the company or about 3 billion shares on the Tadawul.
Recently experts forecasted that Aramco could actually achieve the coveted $2 trillion valuation after all. Experts believe high demand, reduced production and the decision to incentivise those who hold their shares for about six months, are going to drive share prices up and exceed targets.
However, the experts did not mention the time frame within which Aramco would be able to achieve the $2 trillion valuation.