Saudi-based retailer, BinDawood Group, has asked banks to pitch for roles in a potential initial public offering (IPO) of its supermarket business, in a deal which is expected to raise around SAR 1.5 billion ($399.9 million).
BinDawood Group, which owns the Danube and BinDawood supermarket brands, has hired Moelis as an independent financial advisor.
Saudi Arabia is encouraging more family businesses to list in a bid to deepen its capital markets under reforms aimed at reducing the Kingdom’s reliance on oil revenues.
The Saudi Stock Exchange, which recently completed the second and final phase of joining the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, is expected to see several companies go public over the next year.
Additionally, the Kingdom’s state-owned oil giant, Saudi Aramco, which selected nine joint global coordinators last week, is expected to list on the local market before the end of the year.
Fawaz Alhokair Group’s Arabian Centres raised $747 million this year through the sale of a roughly 20 per cent stake, the first listing in the Kingdom under Rule 144a which allows the sale of securities primarily to qualified institutional buyers in the US.
Bahrain-based private equity firm, Investcorp, acquired a minority stake in BinDawood Group in 2016 and the group’s IPO plans are successful, it could become the third Saudi investment that Investcorp has exited through a public share sale in the last five years, reported Reuters.
Source Islamic Business&Finance