JEDDAH, 5 June 2007 — The Capital Market Authority (CMA) yesterday approved the book-building process for the 30 percent initial public offering of Saudi Printing & Packaging Company (SPPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).
“The board of CMA has approved the start of the book-building process for SPPC’s initial public offering ... in order to assess the demand for shares offered and fix the IPO’s pricing,” the CMA said in a statement. The CMA, the regulator of the Kingdom’s stock market, said the approval for the IPO would be given soon after the completion of the book-building process.
SPPC, which has a capital of SR600 million, is fully owned by the SRMG. It intends to offer 18 million shares or 30 percent of its capital, during the IPO. SPPC prints about 55 newspapers and magazines including Arab News and Asharq Al-Awsat. The printing company has already completed practical steps for the IPO following a meeting of its board of directors under the chairmanship of Prince Faisal ibn Salman, chairman of SRMG. The meeting had also discussed SPPC’s financial situation and future plans, a company statement said.
Prince Faisal has described SPPC as one of the leading printing companies in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region. “It enjoys a strong financial position and has achieved positive results over the past years,” he said.
SPPC posted SR245 million in revenue and SR68 million in net profit in 2005.
The SRMG chief said the returns from the IPO would be used in accordance with the decision taken by the board to strengthen the group’s position as a market leader at local and regional levels. “We’ll use the returns from the IPO to expand the group’s activities, either through entering into new investment projects or by further strengthening the group,” he said. Prince Faisal said the SPPC IPO would have a positive impact on the group as it would lead to increasing its investments. “This again goes in line with the board’s policy of expanding its activities and increasing investment in various media projects,” he explained.
Commerce and Industry Minister Dr. Hashim Yamani recently approved SPPC’s shift to a closed joint stock company with a capital of SR600 million ($160 million). It will have 60 million shares each with a nominal value of SR10.
The company is licensed to carry out various activities such as printing, management, operation and maintenance of printing projects; wholesale and retail sale of printing equipment and materials; printing of newspapers, magazines and books in different languages locally and internationally; advertising and propaganda work locally and internationally; and production and distribution of intellectual, scientific and media works.
