JEDDAH, 11 November 2006 — Despite the continuing slide on the Tadawul, a flurry of excitement is expected today when shares start trading in Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem), the largest private petrochemicals company in the Kingdom and one of the largest in the Middle East.
According to the Capital Market Authority (CMA), shares will trade from 4 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. between Nov. 11 and Nov. 13 and will be added on the Tadawul index once its price stabilizes. The company’s initial public offering (IPO) in September was second only to the Emaar Economic City’s IPO in stirring up public excitement. It was oversubscribed 165 percent, attracting 6.7 million applicants - around 40 percent of the Saudi nationals. Most subscribers received seven shares at priced at SR55 each. The share price has originally been set at SR80 but was discounted to take account of the share price crash in February.
In its third quarter report published last month, Sipchem announced record profits of SR318 million compared to SR253 million for the same period of 2005, a 26 percent rise. It currently operates a one million t/a methanol plant and a 75 thousands t/a butanediol plant in Jubail Industrial City. Construction is under way for an acetic acid plant, a vinyl acetate monomer plant and a carbon monoxide plant also in Jubail. Last week, it was announced that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da’wa and Guidance will be investing as a partner in the three plants.
