RIYADH, 19 June 2007 — Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) will sell 5 percent of its shares in an initial public offering this year that sources said could value Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s company at more than $18 billion.
The IPO will be priced at between SR10.5 and SR11 per share and would raise SR3.46 billion ($922.7 million) at the top of the range, sources familiar with the transaction said.
Only Saudis will be allowed to buy shares in Kingdom Holding, which had $24 billion in assets at the end of 2006, including holdings in Time Warner Inc., Apple Computer Inc., Motorola Inc. and News Corporation Inc.
Kingdom Holding will offer 315 million existing shares, the Capital Market Authority said, giving the company permission to start book building. It did not say when the IPO would start.
Prince Alwaleed told Middle East Economic Digest last month the IPO would open before the end of the second quarter.
Officials at Kingdom Holding’s financial adviser Samba Financial Group could not be reached for comment. At SR63 billion, Kingdom Holding’s paid-up capital is more than 2.5 times that of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the largest company on the Saudi stock market.
Kingdom Holding is also shareholder of Samba, Savola Group, the Gulf’s largest food company by market value, and sole owner of Arab entertainment group Rotana. Kingdom Holding said this month it had made an average return on investments of 20 percent over the last 16 years, outperforming both the MSCI and the Standard & Poor’s global indices by more than 10 percent.