MAKKAH, 5 June 2007 — Bank Albilad, lead manager for the Jabal Omar Development Company (JODC)’s initial public offering (IPO) signed on Sunday agreements with 11 underwriting banks for their full cooperation in the 10-day IPO commencing on June 9. The move is aimed at making the IPO process easily accessible to the public.
Azzam Abaalkhail, chief executive officer of Bank Albilad, thanked the undertaking banks for their cooperation. He said all the arrangements are in place for the IPO to receive the public demand for the IPO in its branches, website Bilad.net or telephone or ATMs, according to a bank statement yesterday.
JODC, with a capital of SR6.714 billion, will float 30 percent of its shares in a 10-day initial public offering. The IPO offers 201,400,000 shares. Prospective shareholders can buy as many shares as they want but the minimum purchase is 50 shares. Saudi authorities licensed the company recently in order to carry out a major real estate project in Makkah, close to the Grand Mosque, at a cost of SR12 billion. The proposed project, covering an area of 230,000 square meters, includes building of 40 residential towers, five-star hotels and commercial centers, construction of a road parallel to Um Al-Qura Road and parking area for thousands of vehicles.
“It is one of the largest real estate projects in the Arab world,” said Abdul Rahman Faqeeh, chairman of the JODC’s founding committee.