Saudi Aramco’s 2019 Saudi stock-market listing was the largest initial public offering ever at the time.
Saudi Aramco raised about US$25.6 billion in its December 2019 initial public offering on the Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange. The company later exercised an over-allotment option, bringing the total reported proceeds to about US$29.4 billion.
The offering sold a small portion of the state-owned oil producer while leaving the Saudi government as the dominant shareholder. Saudi Aramco’s enormous oil reserves, production capacity, and profitability made it one of the most valuable companies in the world by market capitalization.
The IPO is sometimes confused with the largest global listings by later revised totals. Alibaba’s 2014 New York listing was previously the record holder, while Saudi Aramco surpassed it in 2019.