Saudi Arabia Drafts Foreign Limits for $580 Billion Bourse - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Drafts Foreign Limits for $580 Billion Bourse - Bloomberg:



"Saudi Arabia set out draft proposals on foreign-shareholder limits as one of the world’s most restricted stock markets prepares to open its doors for the first time to investors outside the region.



The Capital Market Authority may cap foreign ownership of a single stock to 49 percent, it said in plans posted on the Riyadh-based regulator’s website today. It may also set a 5 percent limit for qualified foreign investors, or QFIs, in a single stock, and a 20 percent ceiling for QFIs and approved QFI clients combined, it said.



Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter of oil, is removing barriers to its stock market as the kingdom pursues a $130 billion spending plan to boost non-energy industries. The country’s bourse may be added to MSCI Inc.’s emerging-markets gauge by 2017 at the earliest, Sebastien Lieblich, executive director at MSCI Index Research, said in July, adding the nation may account for about 4 percent of the index. MSCI is reviewing the draft rules and may share its views and comments directly with the CMA, Lieblich said by e-mail today."



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