RIYADH, 13 March 2007 -- The Saudi Hollandi Bank (SHB) has been appointed as financial adviser, lead manager and underwriter for the initial public offering (IPO) of eight million shares of the Arabian Shield Cooperative Insurance Company to be offered at SR10 each.
Subscription to the IPO in its initial stages will be limited to Saudi nationals, according to company officials. Expatriates, however, will be able to buy shares after the company subsequently lists on Tadawul Share Index.
The agreement was signed here yesterday between John Davies, managing director of Arabian Shield and Abdulelah Al-Shaikh, general manager of Corporate Banking Group of SHB and Tom Lind, head of Investment Banking in SHB, to review the plan for successful execution of the IPO. The IPO, which will start on March 17 and end on March 26, could be purchased for a minimum of SR50 and a maximum of SR100,000. Applications to buy shares are limited to three banks, namely: SHB, Samba Financial Group (Samba) and National Commercial Bank (NCB).
Proceeds from IPO will be utilized to acquire the insurance business, operations and related net assets of Arabian Shield-Bahrain, in addition to financing the company's operations and pay the pre-operating expenses.
Davies said it will start operations covering various insurance schemes in the second quarter of 2007.
By Raid Qusti
© Arab News 2007
