Aramco’s blockbuster secondary share sale was fully covered just “hours” after kicking off yesterday, Bloomberg reports, citing a document it saw. The oil giant’s offering met with sharp investor appetite and will see the transaction fully covered “within the price range,” Reuters reports, citing one of the banks working on the offering. Aramco had set a price range of SAR 26.70-29.00.

Remember: The oil giant is taking an additional 0.64% stake to market, or 1.5 bn ordinary shares, guiding on a price range of SAR 26.70-29.00 a piece, it said in a statement on Thursday. Institutional book-building continues until this Thursday, 6 June, according to a separate statement (pdf). The three-day subscription period for retail investors starts today and wraps this Wednesday for a minimum of 10 shares each with no upper limit.

What’s next: The final allocation of shares and the offering’s final price will both be announced on Friday, 7 June, and trading on the newly sold shares will begin next Sunday, 9 June. Excess subscription amounts will be returned on Tuesday, 11 June.

Advisors: SNB Capital is lead manager. HSBC, BofA, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Meryll Lynch, and SNB Capital will act as joint global coordinators, bookrunners and financial advisors. EFG Hermes KSA, Al Rajhi Capital, Riyad Capital, and Saudi Fransi Capital will act as domestic bookrunners. Meanwhile, M. Klein and Company and Moelis will act as independent financial advisors. Meryll Lynch will act as the stabilizing manager. White & Case will act as Aramco’s legal advisor. Pwc will act as auditor.

ALSO IN PLANET FINANCE- Nvidia to overtake Apple: US chipmaker Nvidia looks set to surpass Apple in market value, to become the world’s second-most valuable company behind fellow American tech giant Microsoft. Nvidia’s stock has tripled in value over the past year, and accounted for more than a third of the S&P 500’s gains in 2024. (Reuters)

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets are solidly in the green in early trading this morning. Of the major benchmarks we follow, only the Shanghai Composite is flat. US and European stock futures were up slightly overnight as western markets look forward to the first trading day in June. (Anybody else wondering where the first five months of the year went?)

EGX30

26,870

-0.2% (YTD: +7.9%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 47.26

Sell 47.40

USD (CIB)

Buy 47.27

Sell 47.37

Interest rates (CBE)

27.25% deposit

28.25% lending

Tadawul

11,625

+1.1% (YTD: -2.9%)

ADX

8,863

+1.3% (YTD: -7.5%)

DFM

3,978

+0.2% (YTD: -2.0%)

S&P 500

5,278

+0.8% (YTD: +10.6%)

FTSE 100

8,275

+0.5% (YTD: +8.8%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,984

0.0% (YTD: +10.2%)

Brent crude

USD 81.11

-0.9%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.59

+0.6%

Gold

USD 2,346

-0.9%

BTC

USD 67,798

+0.1% (YTD: +60.3%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.2% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 3.2 bn (34.6% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net buyers. The index is up 7.9% YTD.

In the green: AMOC (+5.7%), EFG Holding (+5.5%), and Heliopolis Housing (+5.0%).

In the red: Qalaa Holdings (-11.0%), Eastern Company (-5.8%), and GB Corp (-3.7%).

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