Ades Holding, the oil and gas driller backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has received regulatory approval for its initial public offering in Riyadh, which could be one of the kingdom’s biggest this year.
The IPO will consist of a 30 per cent stake in the company, Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority said on Wednesday. The listing could raise about $1 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.
The Public Investment Fund teamed up with the major owners of Ades to take the business private in 2021, in a deal valuing the company at about $516 million. Ades, which provides oil-and-gas drilling and production services in the Middle East and North Africa, has since grown through acquisitions.
The company had initially targeted going public in the first half of the year but decided to hold off as it waited for a suitable market window, Bloomberg reported in May.
Typically one of the biggest and busiest listings markets in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia has recently been more subdued after its stock market slumped last year. However, a number of debuts this week have shown that investor appetite for offerings is still strong.
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