It’s a massive day on the Saudi stock market as oil giant Aramco finally makes its debut — becoming the biggest listed company in the world.

Saudi Aramco is floating today, after raising $25.6bn through its sometime troubled IPO. That valued the company at $1.88 trillion — even more than Apple ($1.2 trillion).

The opening auction on the Tadawul is underway. 

If Aramco’s shares rally today, then the $2trillion valuation craved by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could be in sight again.

But it’s an usual float — just 1.5% of Aramco’s stock is actually floating. The rest is owned by the Saudi state.

That scarcity could help push the stock higher, after international investors proved reluctant to back the IPO.

Shares of the state-owned oil company rose to 35.2 riyals ($9.38) in early deals in Riyadh, after initially debuting at 32 Saudi riyals, giving it a valuation of $1.88 trillion.

Aramco’s public debut, which listed 1.5% of its shares locally on the Saudi Tadawul, is the largest on record — topping the $25 billion Alibaba raised when it went public in September 2014.

The oil giant’s initial public offering has surpassed its earlier valuation of $1.7 trillion, announced when share pricing was disclosed last week at the top of market range. But the $1.88 trillion valuation remains below what the kingdom had initially been targeting and relying heavily on local investors after canceling international roadshows due to lackluster foreign interest.

Indeed local and regional buyers appear to be making up the bulk of the demand. That’s also created an interesting twist on the lockup period as the absolute monarchy seeks to privatize its assets, per the Wall Street Journal.

“Locals won’t rush to sell their piece of the kingdom’s crown jewel. The large group of high net worth individuals, government-related entities and other local institutional investors under pressure to buy shares are also unlikely to sell them early and risk the crown prince’s ire. Individual investors are in line to receive a 10% bonus allocation from the state’s holdings if they hold their shares for six months, capped at 100 additional shares. There are almost no fast-money hedge-fund investors involved.”

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world