Bahrain-based Nass set to launch IPO

The next company hoping to benefit from the region's high levels of liquidity and its investors' high risk profile is Bahrain-based Nass Corporation.

The initial public offering (IPO) of the construction group will open in four days.

According to a press release, "receiving banks in Bahrain and the UAE as well as distributing and marketing agencies for Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait, who are managing the process of subscription for the IPO, are reporting strong levels of interest in the 30 million Bahraini dinar issue, the largest IPO to take place in Bahrain in the last eight years."

"The interesting thing about the Nass Corporation IPO is that it's open to all nationalities, which is generating quite a lot of interest," said Hisham S. Al Saie, head of corporate finance at Securities and Investment Co (Sico), the IPO lead manager, in Bah-rain yesterday.

"The fact that Nass is the first of Bahrain's family-owned firms to go public, coupled with the current boom in the construction sector, are also adding to levels of interest, we believe," added Al Saie.

Twenty-five per cent of shares in Nass are available through the IPO process, which starts at 8am on Sunday, and will see the company listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange on November 22.

Nass founders will retain a majority stake in the corporation, which completed a private placement of 24 per cent of shares with strategic Gulf investors in June.

Investors of all nationalities will be able to apply for a minimum of 1,000 shares from the Manama, Adliya and Muharraq branches of HSBC and the office of KPMG-Shares Registrar Department. They can also be obtained from certain Emirates Financial Services branches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Copies of the IPO pros-pectus will be available at the offices of the receiving banks, the registrar, and at www.sico-bahrain.com from October 9.