Saudi Tadawul Group sets IPO final offer price at top end of range

It was set at 105 Saudi riyals per share

Saudi Arabia's Tadawul will become the third publicly traded regional stock exchange following its listing. AP Photo

Saudi Tadawul Group, the owner and operator of the kingdom’s stock exchange, set the final price of its initial public offering at the top end of the range, valuing the company at 12.6 billion Saudi riyals ($3.36bn).

The final offer price was set at 105 riyals per share, Saudi Tadawul Group said in a statement on Sunday following the book building process. It had earlier set the price range of its IPO between 95 riyals and 105 riyals per share.

The total order book was 458bn riyals.

Saudi Tadawul Group is selling 36 million shares, or 30 per cent of its 120 million issued share capital, to the public. The company, which received approval for the public float from Saudi Arabia's Capital Markets Authority on November 4, said individual subscribers will be able to subscribe for shares in the offering between Tuesday and Thursday next week (November 30 and December 2).

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, 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 at the time.

“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.”

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 co-ordinators 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.

Tadawul, which is among the top 10 global stock markets with a market capitalisation of about $2.8 trillion, will become the third publicly traded regional stock exchange, after the Dubai Financial Market and Boursa Kuwait, once it is listed.