Saudi’s National Commercial Bank to raise £3.7bn in IPO debut
Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB) plans to raise 22.5bn riyals (£3.7bn) in the second biggest initial public offering (IPO) in the world this year.
Saudi’s largest lender by assets, NCB, reportedly plans to launch its IPO debut this month.
NCB intends to sell 300 million shares to Saudi individual investors and 200 million shares to the state-run Public Pension Agency at a price of 45 riyals per share, according to the bank’s bourse statement.
The sale will constitute the largest ever IPO in the Middle East, surpassing Dubai’s DP World sale in 2007, which raised £3.09bn. According to Bloomberg, in total the lender is offering 25% of its capital, giving the firm a value of around £14.85bn.
Subscriptions for the IPO will open on 19 October and close on 2 November; however, the sale is restricted to Saudi investors only.
Saudi Arabia is planning on opening up its stock exchange in the first half of next year, with an estimated value of £365bn. In August, the Capital Market Authority put forward a proposition that would allow foreign investors to hold up to 10% of the total Tadawul stock exchange’s value.