Riyadh: Riyadh Cables Group, a Saudi Arabian manufacturer and exporter of power and telecommunications cables, is planning an initial public offering in the kingdom that could raise about $400 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company is working with Riyad Capital and Himmah Capital on the proposed listing that could come as soon as this year, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. More banks could be added later, they said.
Representatives for Riyadh Cables, Riyad Capital and Himmah Capital didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.
Riyadh Cables joins a long list of companies looking to go public in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s biggest market for share sales. A surge in oil prices at the start of the year as well as investor inflows have driven a flurry of listings across the Gulf, bucking a global slowdown in IPOs as recession and inflation fears bite.
Middle Eastern listings have fetched $16.4 billion this year 2022 and the region is on track for its best year for IPOs since 2019, when Saudi Aramco raised $29.4 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Of the 33 Gulf IPOs this year, 22 took place on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul, the data show.
Riyadh Cables, founded in 1984, had initially planned a domestic IPO in 2015, when the country opened its stock market to international investors, Bloomberg News reported. It is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s AlZaim family.
