JEDDAH, 21 June 2005 — Dr. Abdelraouf Mannaa, Savola Group CEO, announced yesterday that the company expected to achieve SR700 million from the Almarai IPO scheduled for July.
Savola owns 40.33 percent of Almarai stock. The Capital Market Authority announced on Sunday that it is floating 4.5 million stocks of the Almarai Company Ltd. dairy firm which represent 30 percent of the company’s stocks.
The date for the IPO is scheduled for the beginning of the workday, Monday, July 4, and will run until the end of the workday. Almarai stock will be priced at SR512 per share.
Savola’s share of the stock offered in the IPO is 12 percent of the total company’s stocks issued, which will decrease Savola’s ownership of the company to 28.33 percent after the IPO, according to Dr. Mannaa.
The profits made from the IPO will be included in Savola’s financial report for the third quarter of 2005, said Dr. Mannaa. He also added that the Savola Group would hold its ordinary general assembly on Saturday, July 16, to agree on the board of directors’ recommendations of increasing the group’s capital from SR1.25 billion to SR1.5 billion by offering a “free stock” for every five stocks owned by its shareholders registered on the day of the assembly meeting.
Earlier this month, Almarai Company, one of the leading dairy firms in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, said it had acquired another Saudi milk producing company in an undisclosed deal. The deal, under which Almarai acquired Riyadh Dairy Company, is expected to substantially increase Almarai’s share of milk products both in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf markets.
Almarai enjoys a 40 percent share in the Saudi dairy market and 30 percent in Gulf markets. It has a work force of 4,000 and owns 45,000 head of cattle which produce 14 million liters of milk every day.
