DOHA, 5 February 2006 — Qatari Al-Rayyan Bank’s initial public offering was about six times oversubscribed, raising 14.2 billion riyals ($3.9 billion), the IPO manager Qatar National Bank (QNB) said yesterday.
The bank had offered 55 percent of its shares to Qatari and Gulf Arab investors at 10 riyals per share in an IPO worth 4.1 billion riyals, the Gulf region’s biggest-ever offering. Investors were required to pay only 50 percent of the shares’ nominal value in addition to an issue fee when they applied for shares.
“The total amount raised from Qatari and Gulf subscribers amounted to 14.2 billion riyals with a total 780,000 applications,” said a joint statement from Al-Rayyan and QNB.
A QNB official said subscribers would pay the remaining 50 percent four years after the bank starts operations.
Saudi investors made up 51 percent of non-Qatari applicants, followed by Bahrainis with 14 percent and Kuwaitis with 13 percent, the statement said. “The over-subscription figures indicate that this offering is now the largest ever pan-GCC IPO both in terms of the number of applicants and the capital sought,” it added.
