RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority approved First Milling Co.’s application for an initial public offering of 30 percent of its share capital on the Saudi Stock Exchange, also known as Tadawul.
The company was the first of several flour milling privatizations in Saudi Arabia, sold to Raha AlSafi consortium for $540 million in 2020.
The consortium was led by Saudi Arabian firm Almutlaq Group and also included Al Safi, Abunayyan Holding and UAE-based Essa Al Ghurair Investment, with investment bank Canaccord Genuity acting as a financial adviser, it was reported at the time.
The CMA also gave the green light to Lumi Rental Co. to register and offer 16.5 million shares, or 30 percent of its share capital, on Tadawul.
In December 2022, Seera Group Holding approved, during an extraordinary general meeting, the demerger of Lumi from the group in order to offer 16.5 million ordinary shares, or 30 percent of Lumi’s capital, on Tadawul.
During the same month, Seera Holding submitted an application to the CMA for Lumi’s Tadawul IPO.
Lumi is specialized in car rental in Saudi Arabia. It has 25 branches, of which nine are in the Kingdom's airports.
In addition, CMA approved both Saudi Call Trading’s application to float 675,000 shares, or 15 percent of the company’s share capital, on the parallel market Nomu.
Another firm that received CMA approval is Abdul Aziz Al-Tuwaijri Trading Co. which applied for the registration and offering of 600,000 shares representing 13.04 percent of the company’s share capital on Nomu.
The approval for IPOs of the four companies is valid for six months, said CMA.
This comes as companies from the Middle East raised some $21.9 billion through IPOs in 2022, accounting for more than half the total from wider Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to Dealogic data.
