Saudi shopping mall developer Arabian Centres Company is about to launch an IPO that will be the Saudi Kingdom’s largest in five years, since the listing of National Commercial Bank on the Saudi Tadawul exchange.
The public offering was approved by the Saudi financial regulator, Capital Market Authority, and is reportedly offering 95 million shares on the Tadawul stock exchange. This offering represents around 20 percent of the company’s total share capital.
Arabian Centres Company is owned by Fawaz Alhokair Group, whose majority shareholder is Saudi billionaire Fawaz Alhokair, the company currently operates and owns 19 malls across 10 cities in Saudi Arabia. Alhokair was implicated in the anti-corruption operation led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2017 that saw a number of high profile business magnates and Princes locked up at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh. Fawaz Alhokair was released in January 2018 and no charges were filed against him.
News of this IPO comes as the Saudi Royal family moves to implement economic reforms and enhance its financial markets aimed at diversifying away from oil-dependency, under the umbrella of the Vision 2030 initiative.
