RIYADH, Nov 28 — The retail portion of Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) has been fully covered, with orders reaching 32.57 billion Saudi riyals (US$8.7 billion or RM36.3 billion), lead manager Samba Capital said yesterday.

The state-owned oil giant plans to sell 1.5 per cent of the company, or about three billion shares, at an indicative price range of 30 riyals to 32 riyals, valuing the IPO at as much as 96 billion riyals and giving the company a market value of between US$1.6 trillion and US$1.7 trillion.

Aramco has said at least one-third of the sale is expected to be covered by retail investors, who have until November 28 to sign up.

Around 3.72 million retail investors had subscribed to 1.017 billion shares by 20:00 (1700 GMT) on November 27, the statement said.

The IPO is the centrepiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plans to diversify the Saudi economy away from its reliance on oil. — Reuters