JEDDAH, 5 December 2004 — As Saudi Arabia is gearing up to launch its fully-fledged stock exchange following the approval of the Capital Market Law last year, this is the right time for the family-owned businesses to go public, according to BMG Chief Executive Officer Basil M. Al-Ghalayini.

He said that the recent success of the initial public offerings (IPOs) of Ettihad Etisalat and Sahara Petrochemicals, which were oversubscribed several times, shows that there is ample liquidity available in the market due to rising oil prices and repatriation of overseas funds.

“There are no opportunities available in the Kingdom to park extra funds, except in the stock market and real estate. So to make use of the excess liquidity, family businesses should consider going public,” he said, adding that “the trend is changing in the Kingdom. I know some family businesses are talking about offering shares.”

He also said that the role of financial advisers would expand once the CMA (Capital Market Authority) bylaws were approved and published.

Al-Ghalayini, who is attending the 2nd Middle East family business conference set in Dubai next week, which is organized by MEED, told Arab News that the two-day event on Dec.7-8, would focus on providing effective solutions for sustainable business growth. HSBC, the Kuwait-based Global Investment House and Cadillac are sponsoring the conference.

Mohammed A. J. Al Fahim, honorary chairman of Al Fahim Group, will give the keynote address in which he will focus on turning bright ideas and sound investments into a commercial success.

Al-Ghalayini, who will be involved in a panel discussion on day two of the conference with Mukhtar Hussain, CEO, corporation investment banking and markets, Middle East and North Africa, HSBC, said that other prominent speakers will be Osama Al-Zamil, GM, business development department, Zamil Group; Khalid Mannai, chairman, Mannai Corporation; Abdullah A. Almajdouie, president Almajdouie Group; Ismail Ibrahim Sajini, president, Sajini Research and Consultancy Center; Abdullah Salem Al-Turaifi, CEO, Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority; Tony Jashanmal, managing partner of Jashanmal National Company; Mohammed A. R. Galadari, chairman, Galadari Brothers Group, and Rajiv Nakani, assistant vice president, head of investment banking & corporate finance, Global Investment House.

“I’ve attended dozens of family business conferences around the world, but I feel MEED conferences are well-organized, well-attended and always there are quality speakers. This is the reason that I associated my name with them. The first MEED conference was also held in Dubai in 2003 which was a quite success,” he said.

Al-Ghalayini said BMG, the Jeddah-based structured finance advisory firm that specializes in a broad range of financial advisory services focusing on the Saudi and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets, is hosting two half-day workshops on Dec. 9 which will deal with building a sustainable entrepreneurial families and leading your family business to a successful IPO: Why, when and how?

Al-Ghalayini said at present only 72 companies are traded in the Saudi stock market, which is a very small number if you take into consideration the size of the country. Even small countries in the Gulf have more companies in the stock markets though in terms of capitalization Saudi Arabia still tops the list in this region.

In Kuwait, he said, over 110 companies are traded and in Egypt there are about 600 companies in the market.

“As I see, Saudi Arabia is striving to join the World Trade Organization. Family businesses are evincing interest to go public and fully-fledged stock exchange is just round the corner. I will not be surprised to see about 150 companies being traded on the Saudi stock market at the end of 2006,” Al-Ghalayini said.