Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Saudi Aramco, has completed, through its subsidiary Aramco Overseas Company, the acquisition of 17 percent of Hyundai Oilbank from Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, for approximately$1.2 billion. The completion follows receipt of all necessary regulatory consents and approvals. According to a statement issued by the company, the investment in South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank supports Saudi Aramco's downstream growth strategy of expanding its global footprint in key markets in profitable integrated refining, chemicals and marketing businesses which enable Saudi Aramco to place crude oil and leverage its trading capabilities. Hyundai Oilbank is a private oil refining company established in 1964. The Daesan Complex, where Hyundai Oilbank's major facilities are located, is a fully integrated refining plant with a processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. The business portfolio of Hyundai Oilbank and its five subsidiaries includes oil refining, base oil, petrochemicals and a network of gas stations. As the second-largest shareholder of Hyundai Oilbank, Aramco will strengthen cooperation in high-performance engineering plastics and propylene derivatives. Along with a shipbuilding joint venture in Saudi Arabia, the shipbuilding group plans to set up an engine joint venture with Aramco in March next year for completion in May 2022. Shares drop Saudi Aramco shares posted the first drop on Tuesday after five days of listing on the Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul, but its valuation stayed above the sensitive $2 trillion mark. The energy giant was listed on Tadawul on Dec. 11 following the world's largest initial public offering and continued to rise since then, before edging down slightly at close on Tuesday. Aramco shares closed Tuesday trading at 37.75 riyals ($10), down 0.25 riyals or 0.66 percent on the day, but the stock remains 18 percent higher than the IPO price of SR32. The market value of the world's largest listed firm still remained slightly above $2 trillion, a figure Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman had sought when he first floated the sale almost four years ago. Saudi authorities sold 1.5 percent of Aramco in the IPO, raising $25.6 billion and surpassing China's Alibaba stock sale as the largest in the world. Aramco shares rose the maximum allowed 10 percent on the debut trading day and elevated its valuation briefly above the $2 trillion mark the day after. It consolidated its valuation above $2 trillion in the following days. Aramco has guaranteed that it will distribute dividends of at least $75 billion every year until 2024. — Agencies
