Saudi fintech Rasan's $224 million IPO draws orders worth $29 billion

Investors put in about SR108.6 billion, or $29 billion, of orders for one of the first initial public offerings by a fintech firm in Saudi Arabia, continuing the trend of strong demand for share sales in the kingdom.

Rasan Information Technology Co.'s IPO was 129.1 times oversubscribed, according to a statement on Wednesday. The offering was priced at SR37 a share, the top of a previously announced range, setting it up to raise SR841 million.

Like some of its Gulf peers, Saudi Arabia is trying to diversify its stock exchange beyond banks and industrial companies that have typically dominated it.

A string of companies have unveiled plans to list on the Riyadh bourse in recent weeks, and have been met with overwhelming investor demand. Several offerings reported triple-digit subscriptions, indicating the listings boom over the last few years still has legs.

Saudi Manpower Solutions Co. drew over $30 billion in orders earlier this month. Meanwhile, investors put in $91 billion of orders for the IPO of a hospital group "- one of the highest in recent years for Saudi IPOs raising over $500 million, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Saudi Aramco's record IPO in 2019 drew SR397 billion in orders from fund managers.

Rasan, which operates online insurance platforms such as Tameeni and Treza, will be among the first fintech firms to go public in the kingdom, which has only seen a few tech listings so far. Apart from Rasan, buy-now-pay-later company Tabby and online cosmetics retailer Nice One are among the technology firms eying IPOs, Bloomberg News has reported.

Rasan's retail offering will open on May 29 for two days, while Saudi Manpower's will be available on May 26 and 27.