International investors have taken up the majority shares - 58% - sold in Saudi Aramco's latest offering set to raise $11.2 billion.

"The majority of the shares constituting the institutional tranche of the Offering was allocated to investors located outside of the Kingdom," the oil giant said right before shares were due for trading on the Saudi bourse as it reopens on Sunday.

Sources told AFP that this comes in comparison to the approximate 23% for the company's initial public offering in 2019, which was the biggest flotation in history, adding that around 70% of external orders came from the European Union and the United States, while others came from Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Aramco announced ten days ago that the offering represented approximately 0.64% of Aramco’s issued shares and is projected to raise up to $13.1 billion, marking a significant test of global appetite for Saudi assets.

This comes as it goes halfway through an economic reform drive aka Vision 2030 for so-called giga-projects such as NEOM, a planned futuristic megacity in the desert.

The Saudi government is expected to receive all the net proceeds from the offering and will compensate Aramco for all related expenses. As a result, Aramco will not receive any proceeds from this offering, and the ownership percentage of the company's other shareholders will remain unchanged.

Analysts suggest that this offering should serve as a measure of Riyadh’s appeal to foreign investors, a critical element of the Kingdom's strategy to diversify its economy. Saudi Arabia has historically struggled to meet its foreign direct investment targets.

In December 2019, Saudi Arabia sold 1.7% of its shares on the Saudi stock market, garnering around $29.4 billion in what was considered the world's largest IPO as Saudi Arabia is the world's largest crude oil exporter.