RIYADH, 5 October 2004 — The initial public offering (IPO) of shares in the newly established Saudi mobile phone company led by the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat will start Oct. 16, the head of the Capital Market Authority announced yesterday.
The IPO in the Etisalat Consortium will last for 10 days and shares will be available to purchase through all banks operating in the Kingdom, Jemaz Al-Suheimy said in a statement.
“Twenty million shares will be on offer,” he said, without tagging a price on the share. There will be a limit of 10,000 shares per person, in order to allow room for small investors, he added.
The Saudi Cabinet in August awarded Etisalat Consortium the second mobile phone license in the Kingdom’s lucrative market after Etisalat made the highest financial bid, offering SR12.21 billion ($3.25 billion).
Twenty percent of the company that will operate the 25-year license must be sold off to the public, and a public offering for another 20 percent is required in the third year of operation.
An Arab industry report has predicted that revenues in Saudi Arabia’s GSM market will soar to $7.9 billion by 2007 on the back of the partial privatization of Saudi Telecom and increased competition.
Although Riyadh has opened up the mobile sector to competition, Saudi Telecom will retain a monopoly over land lines until 2008.
