Aramco beats Apple with $1.7 trillion valuation

Saudi Aramco pricing of its long-awaited IPO raising $25.6 billion gives the energy giant a valuation of $1.7 trillion.

When its shares start trading next week, Aramco will become the world’s largest listed firm by market capitalization.

It will easily beat Apple whose market cap was some US$1.18 trillion on Friday.

It is the world’s biggest stock sale at 32 riyals ($8.53) per share, surpassing the $25 billion by Chinese retail giant Alibaba when it debuted on Wall Street in 2014.

But the oversubscribed sale of 1.5 per cent by 4.65 times is a scaled-down version.

Aramco had announced a blockbuster IPO which did not happen amid fears and uncertainties.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman planned to raise almost $100 billion from the sale of up to five per cent of the company in 2016.

The idea was to overhaul the country’s economy and invest the proceeds in non-energy industries. Aramco is the main income provider for the Saudis.

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In a statement on Friday, the Saudi Stock Exchange, Tadawul said Saudi Aramco’s shares will be listed and start trading on the main market of the Saudi oil exchange on Wednesday, December 11, the Saudi Stock Exchange, Tadawul, said in a statement on Friday.

The valuation is still US$300 billion short of the coveted US$2-trillion valuation that Mohammed bin Salman has sought for years.