JEDDAH, 6 June 2007 — The Ministry of Commerce and Industry yesterday approved a change in the status of Kingdom Holding Co. (KHC), taking the company of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal one step closer to an initial public offering of shares expected this month. Kingdom Holding will have a capital of SR63 billion ($16.8 billion) under its new statute, the ministry said in a statement.
Kingdom Holding was a limited liability company until the change in status to a closed stock company, which usually means the bourse watchdog, the Capital Market Authority, is about to approve its application to sell shares.
Only Saudi investors will be allowed to buy shares in the company, which has investments in Time Warner Inc., Apple Computer Inc., Worldcom, Motorola Inc. and News Corporation Inc.
The Saudi stock market, however, fell slightly yesterday. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) dropped 2.78 points to 7,356.27.
Over SR4.79 billion worth of shares changed hands as shares of 21 companies went up out of 89 companies traded yesterday. Shares of 54 companies declined.
Meanwhile, the CMA yesterday decided to stop exchange of the shares of Al-Baha Investment & Development Company after today’s session in order to complete payment of the last installment of its capital, the Saudi Press Agency said. The exchange of Al-Baha shares will resume on June 23, the CMA added. Al-Baha shares dropped 5.10 percent to SR37.25 yesterday.