Argaam Spotlight: Saudi raised nearly SAR 10 bln from IPOs in 2018

Saudi Arabia witnessed 16 initial public offerings (IPOs) and rights issues, raising SAR 9.87 billion in 2018, data compiled by Argaam showed.

Last year, the market saw 11 IPOs with an issue size of 428 million shares, raising SAR 5.081 billion.

Out of 11 IPOs, eight real estate investment traded funds (REITs) and two companies were listed on Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), with another one on Nomu-Parallel Market, data by Argaam Merger & Acquisition (M&A) deals screener showed.

Five rights issues were launched on Tadawul, including one REIT raising SAR 487 million.

Nine IPOs were oversubscribed, led by National Company for Learning & Education (NCLE) (327 percent oversubscribed). The company’s IPO was managed by Alinma Investment.

Leejam Sports Co. (Fitness Time) was ranked second with its IPO 245 percent oversubscribed and managed by SAMBA Capital.

Alinma Investment accounted for around 18.6 percent of total offerings last year, raising SAR 1.747 billion. Alinma managed NCLE’s IPO which was 327 percent oversubscribed. The second share float was co-managed with JP Morgan Saudi Arabia for Bank Aljazira and was 90 percent complete.

For Nomu, KSB Capital managed the flotation of a 20 percent stake in National Building & Marketing raising a total of SAR 32.4 million. The offering was 100.2 percent oversubscribed.

Argaam.com introduced a comprehensive update of its Merger & Acquisition (M&A) deals screener, to enable its subscribers to access comprehensive data and information on the history of M&A deal-making in Saudi Arabia. The new version of the M&As Screener comprises detailed information and intelligence on all the historical deals announced, completed, and/or cancelled by Saudi-listed firms and their subsidiaries over the past ten years.