Saudi Tadawul Group, the owner and operator of the Saudi stock exchange, intends to raise up to 3.78 billion Saudi riyals ($1 billion) through its initial public offering.
The holding company said in a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange on Sunday that the price range for its initial public offering (IPO) will be between 95 and 105 riyals per share.
The company is selling 36 million shares to the public, or 30% of its 120 million issued share capital. The investor bidding and book-building period will begin on November 21 and end on November 26.
“The final price per offer share will be determined after the completion of the book-building process, to be followed by the individual subscribers subscription process,” Tadawul said in the bourse filing.
The company, which received approval for a public float from Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority on November 4, did not specify when its shares would be listed.
Saudi Tadawul Group’s shares will be listed on the Saudi Exchange’s main index once the offering and listing procedures are completed, the company announced earlier this month. Financial advisers and global coordinators for the IPO include Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and SNB Capital.
The Public Investment Fund, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund and the sole owner of the company, is selling the shares, which will be available to both retail and institutional investors.
As part of its efforts to increase the participation of individual investors, the holding company increased the size of the offering for retail investors to 30% on November 9, up from 10% previously.
“Our goal is to provide an adequate opportunity for all types of Saudi equity market investors to participate in the offering,” said Khalid Al Hussan, CEO of Saudi Tadawul Group.
“As seen in recent IPOs in Saudi Arabia, individual investor demand has been high, and we wanted to seize this momentum to encourage diversity in our shareholding structure post-listing,” he said at the time.
Tadawul, which has a market capitalisation of about $2.8 trillion and is one of the top ten global stock exchanges, will become only the third publicly traded regional stock exchange, after the Dubai Financial Market and Boursa Kuwait, once it is listed.
Tadawul Group has four subsidiaries: the Saudi Exchange, a dedicated arm that runs the kingdom’s equity market, formerly known as the Saudi Stock Exchange Company; the Securities Clearing Centre Company (known as Muqassa); the Securities Depository Centre Company (Edaa); and Wamid, a new subsidiary focused on applied technology services.
Tadawul’s benchmark equities index has increased by approximately 35% since the beginning of the year, owing to new listings and improved investor sentiment as a result of higher oil prices.
Acwa Power, an energy company, listed its shares on the Saudi Exchange last month after raising $1.2 billion in its initial public offering. It was the largest listing in the kingdom since state oil company Saudi Aramco went public in 2019.
Sabic, the Middle East’s largest petrochemicals producer, and Saudi National Bank, the kingdom’s largest commercial lender, are also listed on the Saudi bourse.
