Analysis Oil & Gas Early demand is strong for Aramco’s $13bn share sale The Saudi oil giant Aramco’s secondary share offering opens to retail investors today in a sale that could bring huge dividend payouts if they set aside concerns over flagging oil prices and regional political tensions. Institutional investors covered the offer within a few hours on Sunday, but reports say Aramco is planning events in Britain […] June 3, 2024
Markets Aramco to raise up to $13bn from new share offering Saudi Aramco confirmed on Thursday that it aims to raise up to $13 billion in a secondary public offering next month, as Riyadh seeks out new sources of funding to finance its portfolio of giga-projects. The world’s largest oil producer will sell a 0.64 percent stake, or 1.545 billion shares, in an offering that will commence on […] May 31, 2024
Analysis Markets Foreign traders’ Gulf stock sell-off good news for bargain hunters Foreign investors’ recent cutting of their holdings in Gulf stocks should prove fleeting, and the sell-off provides other traders with the chance to accumulate equities at lower prices, fund managers told AGBI. Non-Gulf investors were net sellers of $597 million of Gulf-listed stocks in April, a report by the Dubai-based consultancy company Iridium revealed. Of […] May 30, 2024
Markets Drake & Scull International shares up by 24% as trading resumes Shares in Drake & Scull International rose by 24 percent on Wednesday as the troubled contractor resumed trading on Dubai Financial Market following a six-year suspension. DSI stock ended Wednesday at AED0.31, having started the day at AED0.25 – the price at which it sold AED450 million ($123 million) of shares earlier this month as […] May 29, 2024
Markets Alef Education valued at $2.5bn as IPO price range set Alef Education, the first education technology company to list on a UAE stock exchange, has set its initial public offering (IPO) price range between AED1.30 and AED1.35 ($0.35-0.37) a share. Accordingly, the market capitalisation on listing will be between AED9.1 billion ($2.5 billion) and AED9.45 billion on listing. The IPO subscription period starts on May […] May 28, 2024
Markets Stock prices of Gulf companies surge after IPOs Most Gulf companies that completed initial public offerings (IPOs) recently have seen their market capitalisation soar, with issuers pricing flotations adroitly to bolster investor demand for their stocks after listing. From the start of 2023 there have been 20 Gulf IPOs that raised at least $100 million. Combined, these sold $11.2 billion of shares. As […] May 28, 2024
Analysis Markets Bahrain tops dividend yields in mixed quarter for bourses First-quarter company earnings in the UAE, Bahrain and Oman were mixed across major economic sectors, with the four bourses trading at markedly varied valuations. As of March 31, Dubai and Bahrain had price-to-earnings ratios of 8.3 and 7.9 respectively, while Abu Dhabi’s was 19.9 and Oman’s 12.9, according to Kuwait’s Kamco Invest. Bahrain (7.7 percent) […] May 27, 2024
Markets Adnoc Drilling successfully floats further stake Abu Dhabi state oil company Adnoc has successfully placed a further 5.5 percent of listed subsidiary Adnoc Drilling, increasing the company’s free float to 16.5 percent. The sale of an additional 880 million shares through a book-building process will boost trading of Adnoc Drilling’s stock on Abu Dhabi’s bourse. Adnoc restricted the share sale to […] May 23, 2024
Finance Saudi listed companies report Q1 profit rise Businesses listed on the Saudi stock exchange, excluding the state energy giant Aramco, reported an 8 percent rise in first-quarter profits this year, highlighting the continued strength of the non-oil sector as hydrocarbon output is cut. Net profit gains in the banking sector, and for telecoms operator STC and state mining company Maaden, helped to […] May 20, 2024
Finance Kuwait’s Beyout targets $147m from IPO Kuwait’s Beyout Investment Group (BIG) has set the price of its initial public offering (IPO) between 480 and 500 fils per share. The company plans to raise up to KD45,000,000 ($147 million) by selling a 30 percent stake, or 90 million shares, on the local bourse, the first in nearly two years. The final offer […] May 20, 2024
Markets Smasco market cap to hit $800m on Saudi listing Smasco, the Saudi Manpower Solutions Company, has set its final initial public offering (IPO) price at SAR7.50 per share, giving it a market capitalisation of SAR3 billion ($800 million) at listing. The company will offer 120 million shares, or a 30 percent stake, raising SAR900 million from the listing. This month, the indicative price range […] May 20, 2024
Finance PIF slashes Starbucks stake as it cuts US stocks by $15bn Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has slashed its US equity holdings by 42 percent to $20.6 billion, including its stake in Starbucks, the global coffee chain that has suffered calls for a boycott as a result of the Gaza conflict. The latest US government data highlights funding challenges facing the Saudi giga-projects. The filing […] May 17, 2024
Finance Aluminium producer Talco announces Saudi IPO Aluminium producer Al Taiseer Group Talco Industrial Company (Talco) is the latest entity to reveal initial public offering (IPO) plans in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh-based company, which was set up in 2009, is offering 12 million shares, a 30 percent stake, on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) at a nominal value of SAR10 ($2.67) per share. […] May 17, 2024
Markets Bahrain Bourse needs more liquidity despite 43% surge The Bahrain Bourse has surged by almost 43 percent in the past five years, but experts have warned that the Gulf state must prioritise further listings to bring more liquidity into the market. The bulk of the growth on the kingdom’s main exchange has come from a select number of liquid stocks, topped by Aluminium […] May 15, 2024
Real Estate Kuwait’s Beyout Investment Group to list on local bourse Kuwait’s Beyout Investment Group (BIG) has announced plans to offer a 30 percent stake on the local bourse, the first in nearly two years. The final offering price will be determined through a bookbuilding process, which will be held from May 19 to 23, the company said in a statement. The shares are slated to […] May 15, 2024
Markets Healthcare group Fakeeh attracts orders of $91bn for Saudi IPO The listing of healthcare conglomerate Fakeeh Care Group was 119 times oversubscribed by institutional investors, the Saudi stock exchange said on Tuesday. The initial public offering was set to raise $763 million but attracted orders of $91 billion, reinforcing Saudi Arabia’s dominance of the region’s IPO market this year. Fakeeh, which was founded in Jeddah […] May 14, 2024
Markets Saudi Arabia dominates Mena Q1 public listings Saudi Arabia dominated public listings in the region in the first quarter of the year and maintains a “healthy pipeline” of IPOs for the remainder of 2024. Nine companies were brought to market in Saudi Arabia during the opening three months, according to the latest report from global consultants EY. The kingdom’s largest, and the […] May 10, 2024
Finance Hong Kong plans fund on Saudi stock exchange Officials in Hong Kong are planning to set up an exchange-traded fund with Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, as Middle East investors increasingly go “bargain hunting” in the Asian city state to take advantage of lower valuations. An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is an investment fund traded on regulated stock exchanges, much like individual stocks are bought and […] May 10, 2024
Construction Drake & Scull losses narrow before return to trading Dubai contractor Drake & Scull International has trimmed its losses in the first quarter of this year as it nears the end of a drawn-out capital restructuring process. The Dubai-based utilities and infrastructure engineering company said in a press release accompanying disclosures to the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) that revenue jumped 55 percent year on […] May 9, 2024
Finance Saudi staffing company Smasco plans $240m from IPO Smasco, the Saudi Manpower Solutions Company, is expected to raise between SAR840 million and SAR900 million ($224 million to $240 million) from its initial public offering after setting an indicative price range of SAR7 to SAR7.50 per share. The market capitalisation of the staffing company at listing will be between SAR2.8 billion and SAR 3 […] May 8, 2024
EXCLUSIVE Finance Binance clamps down on suspicious UAE crypto trades Binance has blocked hundreds of thousands of suspicious cryptocurrency transactions in the UAE as it ramps up compliance efforts, senior executives have told AGBI. The business, which is the world’s largest crypto exchange, received nearly 60,000 law enforcement requests from governments around the world in 2023 after heightened regulatory scrutiny. Meera Judge, the Dubai-based director […] May 7, 2024
Finance Profit doubles in Q1 for stock exchange operator Tadawul The operator of the Saudi stock exchange has reported that its profit more than doubled in the first quarter of 2024, with higher revenues across all business segments. The net earnings of Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Company stood at SAR201.5 million ($53.7 million) in the three months to March 2024, compared to SAR90.8 million a […] May 6, 2024
