RIYADH/JEDDAH: Riyadh-based ACWA, nearly half-owned by the Public Investment Fund, saw its shares jump by 30 percent on debut on the Saudi stocks exchange (Tadawul) on Monday. The market value of the company increased by $3 billion in the first few minutes of trading, Al-Arabiya reported. ACWA is selling an 11.1 percent stake at SR56 ($14.93) apiece, the top end of the offer range. The shares will be trading under the utilities sector. ACWA Power shares listing raises the market value of the PIF’s investment portfolio by an expected SR18.1 billion ($4.8 billion), bringing its total portfolio to SR488.8 billion, according to the closing of Oct. 7. The company will be valued at $10.9 billion and the PIF will continue to own a 44 percent stake after the IPO equivalent to 323 million shares. The value of the portfolio is likely to rise well during the first days of the stock’s trading in the market with the usual rises for the shares at the beginning of their listing, according to Tadawul, especially that the daily price fluctuation limits will be set at 30 percent during the first three sessions. The $1.2 billion IPO drew interest from investors looking for exposure to a business seen as key to the Kingdom’s plans to diversify its economy away from oil. Initial demand for the shares amounted to $300 billion dollars and advisers had to limit institutional investors’ allocations. Green hydrogen projects ACWA Power will invest the capital raised from its stock market debut in renewable energy, water desalination, and green hydrogen projects, the company’s chairman Mohammad Abunayyan has said In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Abunayyan said: “Just as Saudi Arabia has always been leading energy production, today it will be leading in green energy production too.” When it comes to green hydrogen, he added: “The demands are very high and exceed our capabilities, but we are committed to what we can manage and we focus on sustainability.” The newly listed company operates in 13 countries around the world, managing projects of about SR66 billion. Two weeks ago ACWA Power announced a new project with Saudi oil firm Aramco, which has a value of SR45 billion. “We are in the stages of financial closure, and the launch of the project will begin soon,” Abunayyan said during an interview with CNBC Arabia. He added that the company’s water desalination and renewable energy plants are also in great demand, as ACWA Power is considered to be the No. 1 water desalination producers around the world. “About 81 million entities take electricity from ACWA Power worldwide, and 41 million entities use our water desalination,” he said.