Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund on Thursday announced the completion of the sale of 2 per cent of its stake, or 100 million shares, in Saudi Telecom Company, the kingdom's biggest mobile operator.
The final offer price was set at 38.6 Saudi riyals ($10.27) per share, the PIF said in a statement on Wednesday, following the accelerated book building process.
The total size of the oversubscribed offering to local and international institutional investors was 3.86 billion Saudi riyals ($1.03 billion), “making it the largest ever accelerated bookbuild offering” in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and North Africa, the statement said. The PIF will remain STC’s largest shareholder, with a 62 per cent holding.
“This transaction is in line with PIF’s strategy to recycle its capital and invest in emerging and promising sectors in the local economy,” the fund, which has $930 billion of assets under management, said. “The offering will help to increase STC's free float and expand its international institutional investor base.”
Goldman Sachs Saudi Arabia and SNB Capital are the joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners on the deal.
STC, which offers digital products and services across the Mena region, will not receive any proceeds from the sale, SNB Capital said in a separate regulatory filing on the Tadawul stock exchange on Wednesday.
STC's shares have jumped more than 4.4 per cent since the start of the year, but were trading 2.5 per cent lower at 40 riyals a share at 11.32am UAE time on Thursday.
Unlike traditional offerings, an accelerated bookbuild offering is completed in a short time frame – usually within a single trading day – allowing the seller to raise capital or offload shares quickly without disrupting the market over a longer period.
The PIF raised $3.2 billion by offloading a 6 per cent stake in STC in December 2021. The fund is a central plank of the kingdom's Vision 2030 initiative that seeks to diversify the Arab world's largest economy and reduce its reliance on oil.
Last month, its governor Yasir Al Rumayyan said the sovereign wealth fund plans to slash its foreign portfolio by about a third and focus more on domestic markets as it looks to establish the kingdom as the global hub of artificial intelligence.
In August, the PIF said its assets under management jumped 29 per cent to 2.87 trillion Saudi riyals ($765 billion) in 2023 as it solidified its Saudi holdings and diversified its international portfolio of assets. The annualised returns for the sovereign fund since 2017 rose to 8.7 per cent in 2023, up from 8 per cent a year earlier, the fund said in its annual report.
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
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Known as The Lady of Arabic Song, Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 1971, as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. A concert hall was constructed for the event on land that is now Al Nahyan Stadium, behind Al Wahda Mall. The audience were treated to many of Kulthum's most well-known songs as part of the sold-out show, including Aghadan Alqak and Enta Omri.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
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UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP
Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan
Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
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Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
The biog
Siblings: five brothers and one sister
Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota
Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym
Favourite place: UAE
Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera
What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books
Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
