Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is set to officially launch a secondary offering of shares in the oil giant Saudi Aramco, to raise over $10 billion, as early as Sunday, according to sources familiar with the matter, reported Bloomberg.

The government, which holds the largest stake in Aramco, plans to conduct a book-building process to gauge investor interest until next Thursday.

Informal interest from investors in the Middle East and Europe has already crossed $10 billion, the report said.

Final decisions regarding the offering period and deal terms, including its size, have yet to be made, and details may still change. Aramco has not yet commented on the matter, the report added.

Since the beginning of the year, Aramco’s stock has fallen by about 11%, following Bloomberg News' report on the government's plan to sell a stake. This week, the shares reached their lowest levels in roughly a year.

This follow-on offering comes nearly five years after Saudi Arabia raised approximately $30 billion through Aramco’s initial public offering, the largest stock sale in history.

Proceeds from this share sale will support major initiatives to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil, including investments in artificial intelligence, sports, tourism, and the $1.5 trillion Neom development project, driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Bloomberg report added.