One year on from oil giant Saudi Aramco’s record-busting initial public offering in Riyadh, the exchange has continued to enjoy a steady stream of listings. And deals are already lining up for 2021.
For years, the twists and turns leading up to Aramco’s listing dominated Saudi Arabia’s IPO market. The decision to float on Riyadh’s Tadawul exchange and to largely forgo international investors sparked concerns that the $29 billion deal would soak up all the available local liquidity for years. That fear has turned out to be unfounded.
This year, four companies have gone public on the Saudi exchange, raising a combined $1.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s more than the $1.3 billion worth of IPOs in Germany, though far behind the Aramco year of 2019.
“There has been a pipeline of companies that have been looking for an opportunity to IPO ever since we’ve had the downturn in oil prices back in 2015,” said Tarek Fadlallah, the chief executive officer of Nomura Asset Management’s Middle Eastern unit in Dubai. Some may have been delayed by Aramco dominating the calendar last year, he said.
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