RIYADH: Saudi food delivery startup Jahez made a scene when it traded its shares for the first time yesterday on Nomu parallel market with an SR8.9 billion ($2.4 billion) market cap, which a leading Saudi analyst considered a sign of overvaluation.
“We're excited to have a tech company get listed on the Saudi stock market, but its IPO price was extremely overvalued in my opinion. Its listing could have failed if it wasn't for the price stabilization process,” financial analyst and chief of Razeen Capital Mohammed Al Suwayed said.
Jahez had a market cap bigger than many companies on the main stock market index TASI.
Marking Nomu’s biggest in 2021, Jahez’s IPO was priced at an above-average rate, standing at SR850 per share.
To prevent a fall in price and in its capacity as the financial advisor of the offer, HSBC Saudi Arabia implemented price stabilization on the offered shares.
On debut, the stock soared over 10 percent to reach SR940 at the closing bell.
Jahez, formally known as Jahez International Co. for Information Systems Technology, provides online food delivery services across 47 cities in Saudi Arabia. The startup was launched in 2016.
