JEDDAH, 26 December 2007 — Leasing Company for Machinery, Real Estate Trade and Car Rentals decided to launch the 30 percent of its shares for public subscription to raise capital, its financial consultant NCB Capital said yesterday.
Signing a contract with Hassan AlJabri, member of governing council and managing director of Investment Banking in NCB Capital, which appointed the bank as the financial consultant for the IPO, Dr. Saleh Malayka, chairman of the board of the leasing company, said the agreement “is the fruit of the efforts of the leasing company to consolidate its name strongly in the leasing market.”
He added that the latest move to go public is a part of the company’s “clear vision and an ambitious strategy to find practical steps to achieve the subscription process at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Malayka further said that converting the leasing company into a shareholders company at the start of 2005 was a “quantum leap, allowing it to win the confidence of banks, auto agencies and clients.”
It resulted in a steady corporate growth, with a net profit reaching SR23 million in 2006 against SR16.8 million in 2005, he added. He forecast the company will rake in SR40 million in profit by the end of 2007.
He noted that the number of customers has multiplied since its inception in 1998, generating more than SR1 billion.
Malayka moreover said his company ventured to enter the growing real estate and machinery financing to meet the expected demand for such services in light of the Kingdom’s booming economy. He disclosed the company’s plans to double its presence in the market to cover all major cities in the Kingdom, saying that branches will soon open in Makkah, Madinah and Alahsa and others by the end of 2007.
He said the company’s capital of SR255 million and sustained increase in year-on-year profits encouraged local and regional banks to finance its car financing expansion plans with a total loan of over SR700 million.
AlJabri pledged that NCB Capital “will make every effort and devote all the technical and human resources to ensure the success of the subscription.”
The company was the first company in the leasing sector to convert from a limited liability company to a joint stock company. With headquarters in Jeddah, it has branches in Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh.