The transaction is valued at $100 million and is viewed to be a strategic entry by Al-Murjan Holding into one of the region’s robust industries, which is driven primarily by increasing domestic spending.
Al Murjan Holding was advised by Jeddah-based Sidra Capital.
Based in Jeddah, Al-Raya operates a fast-growing chain of 25 supermarkets across 14 cities of the western and southern regions of Saudi Arabia.
The company achieved sales of around SR800 million in 2011, an increase of 17 percent since 2010.
Founded more than 20 years ago by current management, the company has a leading position and strong brand loyalty; serving more than 50,000 customers daily across the cities it operates in, which include Jeddah, Najran, Jizan, Madina, Sabya and Taif.
Hani Baothman, CEO of Sidra Capital, said: “As a Jeddah-based diversified investment group, this acquisition adds on to the increasingly diversified investment portfolio of Al Murjan Holding. Given the positive outlook of the retail industry, especially food-retail industry, Al Raya is ideally positioned to take advantage of Saudi Arabia’s attractive demographic and consumer growth trends. Further, Al-Murjan Holding’s investment in Al-Raya is in line with its strategy to take active minority positions with trusted partners in high quality midmarket businesses operating in the emerging markets. This investment shows our commitment to the Kingdom and reinforces the beliefs of Al-Murjan in the growth potential of the Kingdom over the next few years.”