Saudi Aramco raised the largest-ever initial public offering in December 2019.
The oil producer sold shares on Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, after listing 1.5% of its shares. The offering raised about US$25.6 billion, and an additional sale of shares later increased the total to about US$29.4 billion. That surpassed Alibaba’s 2014 offering, which had raised about US$25 billion.
Saudi Aramco’s enormous valuation comes from its position as Saudi Arabia’s national oil company and from its ownership of large petroleum reserves and production capacity. The IPO was part of Saudi Vision 2030, which seeks to diversify the Saudi economy. The company’s IPO value and its later market capitalization are related but not identical: market capitalization changes with the share price, while IPO proceeds measure the money raised by selling newly listed shares.