Saudi mall operator Arabian Centres Company raised 2.47 billion riyals (Dh2.41bn) after pricing its initial public offer at the lower end of the range.
The company will price its IPO at 26 riyals per share, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The initial price range was 26 to 33 riyals per share for the sale of 95 million shares.
The IPO was oversubscribed in an institutional offering and generated an order book of 3.1bn riyals from public and private funds, foreign investors and institutions, Arabian Centres said.
The offering by Arabian Centres, which is owned by Saudi retailer Fawaz Alhokair Group, is the country’s largest initial public offering since lender National Commercial Bank raised $6bn in 2014.
The company plans to exercise an over-allotment option, increasing the deal size from 2.47bn riyals to 2.8bn riyals, equivalent to a stake of 22.7 per cent.
Samba Capital, Morgan Stanley, NCB Capital, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, EFG Hermes, Emirates NBD Capital KSA and Natixis managed the offering.
Saudi share sales slowed as the kingdom’s economy grappled with lower oil prices. Listings by companies and real estate investment trusts raised almost $900 million last year, down from $6.7bn in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Riyadh has been encouraging more family owned companies to list in a bid to deepen its capital markets as part of reforms aimed at reducing reliance on oil revenue, according to Reuters.
