RIYADH -- Saudi Oil Company Aramco has priced its initial public offering at $8.53 per share, making it the largest IPO ever, Arab News reported on Thursday.

At that level, Aramco has a market valuation of $1.7 trillion, overtaking Apple as the world's most valuable listed firm.

The offering generated subscriptions of $106 billion by institutional investors and together with the total demand from individual investors, the order book hit $119 billion, the report highlighted.

The state-owned oil giant said it would retain the option of an even larger offering of a 3.45 billion share sale, worth $29.4 billion.

Xinhua