Saudi Tadawul Group, the recently formed holding company which operates the country's bourse, said it appointed NCB Capital, JP Morgan and Citigroup to advise on its initial public offering.
"The IPO will provide an important strategic dimension to realise the group’s expansion plans, strengthen its position globally and align its growth objectives with the Public Investment Fund’s strategy to boost the economic transformation of Saudi Arabia," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Saudi Tadawul Group confirmed plans to list on the kingdom's main market later this year as it unveiled changes to its corporate structure earlier this month.
An exact date and the size of the stake being floated will be revealed at a later date. Exchange bosses have also yet to confirm whether the listing will be open to foreign investors.
Tadawul, which is among the top 10 global stock markets with a market capitalisation of $2.6 trillion, will become only the third publicly-traded regional stock exchange after the Dubai Financial Market and Boursa Kuwait.
The PIF is the sole shareholder of Saudi Tadawul Group, which has four subsidiaries. These 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.
Sarah Al-Suhaimi was appointed as chairperson of the new Tadawul Group, while Mr Al-Hussan is the group's chief executive. Mohammed Al Rumaih heads the Saudi Exchange business and Mohammed Al Nory was appointed as chief executive of Wamid.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Celta Vigo 2
Castro (45'), Aspas (82')
Barcelona 2
Dembele (36'), Alcacer (64')
Red card: Sergi Roberto (Barcelona)
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.