RIYADH, 21 October 2006 -- Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Company yesterday announced that its ten-day initial public offering (IPO) collected over SR2.4 billion ($640 million).
The ten-day IPO, which ran Oct. 7-16 received over 2.1 million subscriptions. Seventy percent of the amount has come through direct channels including ATMs, phone banking and Internet banking. The excess funds will be returned on Saturday.
Fawaz Alhokair, chairman of Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Company, said: "By showing their faith in Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Company, investors have exercised their vote of commitment to the progress of the Kingdom. We welcome our new stakeholders and would like to ensure them that Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Company will continue to outperform competition and offer world-class products."
Abdul Majeed Alhokair, chief executive officer of Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Company said: "On behalf of the company I sincerely thank the Saudi investors for their strong support to the IPO and the CMA (Capital Market Authority) and our banking partners for their support as well. Investor response to the IPO is an indication of their trust in the company, its future growth potential and market leadership status. We are thankful to the Capital Market Authority of Saudi Arabia; to HSBC our financial adviser & lead manager and to Saudi British Bank (SABB) our sole underwriter. We also thank the 11 receiving banks for reaching out to Saudi investors across the vast Kingdom using innovative outreach programs."
SABB was the sole underwriter of the IPO and also a selling agent. The other banks that were involved in selling the issue were: Samba Financial Group, Al-Rajhi Bank, National Commercial Bank, Arab National Bank, The Saudi Investment Bank, Riyad Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Bank Albilad, Bank AlJazira and Saudi Hollandi Bank.
© Arab News 2006
