Saudi Aramco IPO's retail tranche oversubscribed, says lead manager

The retail portion of Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) has been oversubscribed, with orders reaching 38.1 billion Saudi riyals ($10.2 billion), lead manager Samba Capital said on Thursday.

The state oil giant plans to sell a 1.5% stake, or about 3 billion shares, at an indicative price of 30 to 32 riyals, valuing the IPO at as much as 96 billion riyals and giving the firm a market value of $1.6 trillion to $1.7 trillion.

Aramco has said at least one-third of the sale is expected to be covered by retail investors, who have until end of Thursday to sign up.