Maaden is one out of five Saudi Arabian public companies nominated, with the others including SABIC, Mobily, SABB, and Almarai.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony during the society’s annual conference on Thursday in Beirut. Over 100 delegates are expected to attend the conference from Lebanon, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

Maaden’s nomination is in recognition of its efforts over the past two years to stimulate investment in the local market.

The awards come at a time of increasing importance for investor relations, with regional capital markets showing signs of recovery and 12 IPOs completed so far this year, according to Thomson Reuters. Analysts predict greater foreign capital inflows to the Middle East will be supported by stronger growth prospects for the entire region.

In addition, the UAE’s upgrade to emerging market status by the FTSE Group, in particular, places it on a par with countries such as China, India and Russia, where timely, accurate and transparent investor communication has never been more crucial.

These awards recognize the efforts of regional companies and investment relations professionals to continuously raise standards to the levels required by investors around the globe. The finalists were selected using feedback from a Thomson Reuters Extel Survey, which gathered votes from 223 fund managers and analysts from over 70 countries.

“The global competition for capital has intensified over the course of the last two years, cementing IR (investor relations) as a strategic management function within listed companies. With the presence of the ME-IR Society, a growing number of companies in the Middle East understand the value and follow international best practices of IR,” said Arif Amiri, chairman of the society.

“The Middle East itself has entered a new era, post financial crisis, characterized by a more sincere desire for openness and increased accountability. As a regional society, we will continue to give our members the tools and techniques required to create solid and lasting relationships within the investor and analyst communities, both regionally and internationally.

“We are honored to receive feedback from those communities once a year on how our companies are doing compared to our peers in other markets. We use this feedback to award best practice and to acknowledge and reward the region’s dedicated IR practitioners.”