Saudi Arabia’s stock market is pulling out all the stops for what could be the world’s largest initial public offering.
The exchange, known as Tadawul, is prepared for Saudi Aramco’s share sale regardless of the structure that the company decides to use for the listing, chief executive Khalid Al Hussan said in an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday.
“Tadawul will be the home exchange for Aramco, and, if there is another exchange, the decision will be coming from the issuer in due course,” Al Hussan said. The bourse is “taking all measures to ensure Aramco comes successfully to the market,” he said.
The IPO of the world’s largest oil exporter has drawn interest from international stock exchanges in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Toronto and even spurred US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May to lobby for the listing. Saudi Arabia, which values Aramco at US$2 trillion, is seeking to sell state assets as part of a plan to wean the economy off oil and create the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund.
“I can comfortably say we are ready to host such a unique IPO,” Al Hussan said.
The listing has also seen intense competition by banks from New York to Tokyo for a role on the deal. Aramco is set to appoint lenders including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley to help manage the sale, people familiar said this month.
Mr Al Hussan told The National in October the bourse was "creating the right incentives for private and government sector companies to go public."
Aside from preparing for Aramco’s debut, Tadawul is also planning its own IPO later this year after hiring HSBC’s Saudi unit to advise on the listing in 2016. Work is “progressing as planned,” Al Hussan told Bloomberg.
There were 16 IPOs in Saudi Arabia in 2017 that raised about $722 million, exceeding the $274m a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. There should be more listings this year across the main market, the small-cap market, and by Real Estate Investment Trusts, he said.
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Honeymoonish
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Isle of Dogs
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Liev Schreiber, Ed Norton, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson
Three stars
MATCH INFO
Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club race card
5pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic (PA) Prestige; Dh110,000; 1,400m
5.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic (PA) Prestige; Dh110,000; 1,400m
6pm: Maiden (PA); Dh80,000; 1,600m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship (PA) Listed; Dh180,000; 1,600m
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap; Dh70,000; 2,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (PA); Dh100,000; 2,400m
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
Naga
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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million