Saudi Arabia’s international capital markets charm offensive continues this week, with a series of high-level meetings with London’s investment community.
Senior executives from corporations such as Sabic, Saudi Telecom and insurer Tawuniya, together with representatives from the Tadawul and Capital Market Authority (CMA), kicked off a series of meetings yesterday during a two-day investment forum hosted by Morgan Stanley.
The meetings follow similar events last month in New York, sponsored by JP Morgan. A third event, hosted by HSBC, is scheduled to take place in Hong Kong during the first quarter of next year.
Increasing foreign participation in Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange is among the key provisions of the country’s ambitious National Transformation Programme.
Saudi Arabia stunned international investors in January when it announced plans to list a stake in oil major Saudi Aramco by early 2018, in what is expected to be the largest IPO in history.
In recent months the country has significantly relaxed requirements for foreign investors, announced plans for a secondary index and changes to settlement cycles, and last week introduced regulations for trading Reits for the first time.
An IPO in the Tadawul itself is expected to be launched by 2018.
“Investor interest in the Saudi capital markets is very strong, as shown by the number attending this conference in London,” said the CMA vice chairman, Mohammed Elkuwaiz.
“This reflects both the size of the country’s equity market, which is the largest in the Mena region, and its continuing integration in global markets.”
The Tadawul has been one of the world’s best-performing stock indexes over the past month, following Saudi Arabia’s record US$17.5 billion bond issue last month.
However, the bourse remains 11 per cent lower for the year, prompted in part by a 13 per cent slump in January following a collapse in global oil prices.
Foreign investors held 4.16 per cent of total market capitalisation as of Thursday, according to data from the Tadawul.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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