DUBAI, 30 October — Saudi Telecom Co. will launch its initial public offering (IPO) of up to 30 percent of its shares before the end of this year, STC Chairman Khaled Al-Melhem said here yesterday.
"The offer will come before the end of the year, probably in December," Melhem told reporters on the sidelines of the Dubai Strategy Forum.
He ruled out any possibility of a strategic partner being taken on board. "STC is already being run profitably and on a professional basis by the present management. There is no room for any strategic partner," he said.
The Saudi government announced last month that STC would put on sale 30 percent of its capital — a chunk of shares worth some $3.26 billion — before the end of 2002, in the biggest state selloff in 20 years. The company’s capital would immediately be increased from $3.2 billion to $4 billion by dipping into profits.
The move is intended to herald a long-awaited government privatization drive to diversify an economy heavily dependent on oil prices. The Saudi telecom sector will also be opened to competition beginning with mobiles in the last quarter of 2004 and fixed lines in the final quarter of 2008.
