Saudi's Al-Tayyar IPO raises $365 million, six-times covered

Saudi’s Al-Tayyar IPO raises $365 million, six-times covered

Pricing of the shares came at the top end of the 45 to 57 riyals range. The family-owned business group offered 24 million shares, with retail subscription running between May 14 and 20.

May 29, 2012 11:56 by Reuters

Saudi Arabian group Al-Tayyar Travel raised 1.37 billion riyals ($365.3 million) from its 30-percent initial public offering which priced at the top of its price range, figures from the lead manager said.

The offering was 6.1-times oversubscribed with the tranches open to retail and institutional investors covered 2.4 and 4.9-times respectively, according to a statement from Samba Capital, the investment banking arm of Samba Financial Group ,

Pricing of the shares came at the top end of the 45 to 57 riyals range. The family-owned business group offered 24 million shares, with retail subscription running between May 14 and 20.

It is the second time that Al-Tayyar has looked to list on the Saudi stock exchange, having first looked to go public in February 2010 through a 30-percent stake sale.

Lacklustre market conditions forced the firm to pull the process at the end of the institutional stage, the first time a Saudi IPO had failed to complete after receiving listing approval from the country’s regulator.

However, market conditions in Saudi – and across much of the Middle East – have been buoyant in 2012, despite a recent decline on the back of global economic worries. The Saudi index has gained 8.9 percent this year.

($1 = 3.7502 Saudi riyals)

(Reporting by David French; Additional Reporting by Amena Bakr; Editing by xx)