Beirut (APD) With the close of the second day of the IPO of Yanbu National Petrochemicals Company (Yansab) the subscription already covered about 78% of the value of the total shares offered.
More than two million subscribers have requested shares of Yansab worth SR 1.525 billion ($ 406.64 million), the Riyadh-based business daily al-Iqtisadiya reported Tuesday.
Yansab, a subsidiary of the Saudi petrochemical giant SABIC, is offering more than 39 million shares representing 35% of Yansab's capital which totals about SR 5.62 billion. The share is priced at SR 50.
The relative calm at the IPO as compared with other IPOs in the GCC region is due to the fact that 58% of subscription requests were received by banks through the internet or by telephone and other telecommunications tools, said Samba Financial Group, the financial advisor and manager of Yansab's IPO.
Meanwhile, the Italian firm Technip confirmed on Tuesday that it signed a contract with SABIC for the construction of a large-scale ethylene and propylene production plant at the Yansab complex which is located in Yanbu Industrial City, on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.
Under the contract, which had been signed in early December, Technip will provide basic and detail engineering, procurement and supply of materials, construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning and training of the owner's personnel, said the Italian company, which is a leading specialist in petrochemicals engineering and construction.
The plant has a capacity of 1.3 million metric tons of ethylene per year and 400,000 metric tons of propylene per year.
This plant will boost SABICs production capacity of basic petrochemicals, intermediates and polymers, Technip affirmed.
Technip's operations and engineering center in Rome (Italy) is executing the contract on a lump sum turnkey basis. The construction of the facilities will be handled by Technip Saudi Arabia. The project is scheduled to be completed in April 2008, Technips statement said. [FC-TS]
By Shikrallah Nakhoul, APD Staff Writer in Beirut
APD (Arab Press Digest) 2005
