RIYADH, 18 January 2005 — Shares in Saudi Arabian insurance firm National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI) rose 84 percent to SR372 ($99.20) yesterday, their first day listed on the Kingdom’s stock exchange. The shares, which were sold to investors last month, briefly jumped above SR400 in the opening minutes of trade before paring gains.
NCCI stock was 11.5 times oversubscribed when the government sold 7 million shares, or 70 percent of the company’s capital. More than 800,000 applicants each received around 9 shares each, which sold for SR205 apiece. The flotation came as part of a government drive to open up the insurance sector in Kingdom to competition.