Saudi Tadawul Group, the owner and operator of the kingdom’s stock exchange, is aiming to raise up to 3.78 billion Saudi riyals ($1bn) from its initial public offering.
The holding company has set the price range of its IPO between 95 riyals and 105 riyals per share, it said on Sunday in a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange.
The company is selling 36 million shares, or 30 per cent, of its 120 million issued share capital to the public. The bidding and book-building period for investors will begin on November 21 and conclude 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 the public float from Saudi Arabia's Capital Markets Authority on November 4, did not provide a date for the listing of its shares.
Saudi Tadawul Group's shares will be listed on the main index of the Saudi Exchange once offering and listing formalities are completed, the company said earlier this month. Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and SNB Capital are financial advisers and global coordinators for the IPO.
The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which is the sole owner of the company, is selling the shares that will be offered to both retail and institutional investors.
On November 9, the holding company increased the size of the offering for retail investors to 30 per cent, up from 10 per cent initially as it seeks to increase the participation of individual investors.
“Our aim is to provide an adequate opportunity to all types of investors in the Saudi equity market to participate in the offering," Khalid Al Hussan, chief executive of Saudi Tadawul Group, said.
"Individual investors’ demand has been high, as seen during recent IPOs in Saudi Arabia, and we wanted to seize this momentum to encourage diversity in our shareholding structure post-listing," he said at the time.
Tadawul, which is among the top 10 global stock markets with a market capitalisation of about $2.8 trillion, 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 that include the Saudi Exchange, a dedicated arm running the kingdom's equity market previously known as the Saudi Stock Exchange Company; the Securities Clearing Centre Company (known as Muqassa); the Securities Depository Centre Company (Edaa); and a new subsidiary focused on applied technology services known as Wamid.
Tadawul’s benchmark equities index has risen about 35 per cent since the beginning of the year, driven by new listings and improved investor sentiment on the back of higher oil prices.
Energy company Acwa Power listed its shares on the Saudi Exchange last month after raising $1.2bn through its IPO. It was the kingdom's largest listing since state oil company Saudi Aramco went public in 2019.
The Saudi bourse is also home to Sabic, the biggest petrochemicals producer in the Middle East, and Saudi National Bank, the largest commercial lender in the kingdom, among others.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Floward%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdulaziz%20Al%20Loughani%20and%20Mohamed%20Al%20Arifi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EE-commerce%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbout%20%24200%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAljazira%20Capital%2C%20Rainwater%20Partners%2C%20STV%20and%20Impact46%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2C200%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
THE BIO
Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.
She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
