Saudi Arabia continued to dominate initial public offering (IPO) activity in the MENA region, listing five of the six companies in Q3 2023 and raising $330 million, EY said in its latest MENA IPO report.

Lumi Rental Company, listed on the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul), raised the highest proceeds at $291 million. The remaining four IPOs on the Nomu-Parallel Market collected $39 million.  

Three IPOs from the transportation sector garnered $302 million of the total proceeds as part of the Kingdom’s economic diversification drive to reduce reliance on oil-related activities.

The fourth quarter of 2023 kicked off with three Saudi listings in October – ADES Holding Company on the main market, Atlas Elevators General Trading & Contracting Co. and Intelligent Oud Co. trading on Nomu.

Qatar stock exchange reported the second-largest MENA IPO of the third quarter, with MEEZA QSTP raising $193 million.

Despite the lower levels of proceeds from MENA listings, the IPO pipeline for Q4 2023 and into 2024 remains “promising”, particularly driven by Saudi Arabia, where 27 companies have announced their intention to list, EY said.

“The fourth quarter of 2023 is already off to a strong start with three IPOs successfully completed in Saudi Arabia. We are expecting additional IPOs toward the end of 2023 in the UAE,” said Gregory Hughes, EY MENA IPO and Transaction Diligence Leader.


"However, we are facing a risk that the ongoing geopolitical challenges in the region will adversely impact investor sentiment," he added.

The MENA region saw 29 IPOs year-to-date in 2023 with total proceeds of $5.8 billion, down 6% in volume and 61% in funds raised year on year. All the listings took place in the GCC region.

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com )