RIYADH, 9 June 2004 — Saudi company Rikaz said yesterday it has sold out a shares subscription fund to build a luxury waterfront city in Alkhobar. The “record-breaking four-day sellout” saw the purchase of 32,983 shares, worth $153.4 million, in the one-billion-dollar City Fanar (lighthouse), which is to be constructed around a man-made lagoon on the Gulf coast, Rikaz said in a statement.
“Rikaz ... predict that, through careful planning and a hesitancy to oversubscribe, the massive demand for the limited shares will push the share price up by five to seven percent over the next fortnight,” it said. Rikaz President Khaled Al-Qahtani said the speed at which the shares sold out “further illustrates the confidence that exists in the Saudi economy, specifically the Eastern Province.”
The majority of the investment came from Saudi Arabia, while “20 percent has come from neighboring GCC states,” Rikaz said. The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The cost of the first phase of the project, to be completed in 2007 and which will cover 3.3 million square meters, is estimated at $200 million.