Saudi Aramco raised US$29.4 billion in the world's largest initial public offering in 2019.
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company listed shares on the Tadawul, Saudi Arabia's stock exchange, in December 2019. The company sold 1.5% of its shares, pricing them at 32 Saudi riyals each. Strong demand led the underwriters to exercise an over-allotment option, lifting the proceeds above the original US$25.6 billion target.
The offering briefly gave Aramco a market capitalization of about US$1.9 trillion, making it the world's most valuable listed company at the time. Its valuation exceeded that of Apple, although the shares represented only a small portion of the state-owned business.
The IPO is often confused with Alibaba's 2014 offering, which held the previous record at approximately US$25 billion. Aramco's offering was also much larger than Saudi Arabia's earlier 2018 plan to list the company abroad, a plan that was ultimately abandoned.