Aramco IPO Grows to Near $30Bn on Greenshoe Option

The Saudi Aramco IPO continues to make news.

At least in the Middle East. The well-advertised mega-large IPO, which has been road showed and eventually oversubscribed just got even more juice – thanks to a so-called “greenshoe option.” This option allowed the company to share more shares to meet investors demands for the o=shares.   

As first reported in the Arab News, the company announced the sale of an additional 450 million shares took place during the initial public offering process. The oil and gas company’s market capitalization is now upwards of $2 trillion.

A greenshoe option or over-allotment, allows companies to issue more shares in an IPO when there is greater demand from participants in the initial offer. Investors were allocated the additional shares during book-building, Aramco said.

The shares sold in the over-allotment option “had been allocated to investors during the book-building process and therefore, no additional shares are being offered in the market today,” Saudi Aramco said.

As of Sunday’s close, Saudi Aramco is valued or worth $1.85 trillion, ahead of  Apple, the second largest company in the world which has a valuation of $1.3 trillion.