Aramco prices shares at $8.53, with the total valuation of $1.7T

Notes from the article

* Total valuation $1.7T.

* They sell 1.5% of the company ($25.6 billion)

* Only 10.5% comes from foreign investors ($2.8 billion). If UAE and Kuwait investment authorities are buying with 1-1.5 billion worth, there is few hundred millions left for other foreigners. (Chinese have said elsewhere that they are interested).

* It was hard sell hard for locals.

You would think that the idea of IPO is divestment from oil, not just shuffling oil stocks between governments. The Saudi Aramco IPO was planned to be in foreign exchange and all the hype rumors told that it would be competition from exchanges including London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. It turned into local IPO.

It seems that the plan just failed and they push the IPO trough in local exchange so that they don't lose their face.

You are right. I think the killing of Jamal Khashoggi also played a role in keeping foreign investors at bay.

So they’ve sold off a trivial fraction of the company and kept the rest — what are they hoping to achieve?

This is $300 billion short of initial $ 2 trillion valuation