State-owned Saudi Aramco bought 2.1 billion shares of Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) on the stock market on Sunday; as it completed its deal agreed last year to buy 70% of the petrochemical giant.
The Saudi exchange, known as Tadawul executed four transactions; involving SABIC shares worth SAR259,125bn ($69.1bn), Tadawul data showed.
The Saudi sovereign fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) are selling the shares, giving it more cash to invest in the government program to diversify the economy away from oil.
Sunday's share trades involved cross transactions, also known as special deals on Tadawul, which execute at an agreed price between a buyer and seller, without those involved.
"The deal completion is on-track with expectations to finalize before the end of the second quarter," Aramco told Reuters in a statement when asked about the transactions. "We will make a completion announcement in due course."
Aramco has been boosting investments in refining and other downstream industries.
Three of Sunday's deals completed at SAR123.40 per share. Besides, the fourth at SAR123.20, prices that were similar to last year's agreed price of SAR123.39 per share.
SABIC shares ended at 88.50 riyals on Sunday.
