The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) has announced the inclusion of Saudi Stock Exchange in the FTSE EPRA/Nareit Emerging Index (EPRA: European Public Real-estate Association).

The index is specialised in REITs and real-estate companies, similar to other global indices, a group of securities have been chosen to be reviewed and added periodically and announced on the index official website.

The inclusion of Saudi REITs in global real estate indices will raise the level of Saudi REITs and align it with the international best practices, increase level of disclosure and accessibility to the capital market by foreign investors, and broaden the investors base in the Saudi capital market.

This inclusion comes as a result of Tadawuls relentless efforts in supporting targeted REITs and other securities to meet the criteria required for the inclusion, it stated.

Tadawul CEO Engineer Khalid Al Hussan said: "Inclusion in the benchmark FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Real Estate Index Series will enhance the visibility of the Saudi REITs market to foreign investors, further broaden the investor base, and increase the level of disclosure."

"This inclusion is happening in conjunction with the recent inclusion of the Saudi Stock Exchange in global emerging market indices, that will further support the enhancements in the Saudi capital market, align its regulatory framework with the international best practices, a key goal of the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) Kingdom's Vision 2030," he stated.

Gary Rynhoud, the head of Middle East and Africa, FTSE Russell, said: "Following the successful inclusion of Saudi Arabian stocks within FTSE Russells global equity benchmarks, we are delighted that selected Saudi-based REITS are now included as part of the market-leading, FTSE EPRANareit Global Real Estate Index Series."

"We continue to see growing demand from international investors to access the Middle East and we look forward to working with them to provide benchmark and analytic solutions that will facilitate their investments into the Region," he noted.

Ali Zaidi, the director for Research & Indexes at EPRA, said: "Saudi Arabia is the largest emerging real estate market by value in the EMEA region that is now accessible for global investors through Saudi REITs included in the Index."

"Gaining exposure to this market is important for global mandates given the forecasted GDP and population growth which are well above the developed markets' average. REITs are unrivaled in terms of bringing transparency and liquidity to commercial real estate in markets across the globe and in addition have outperformed private real estate in Europe," stated Zaidi.

"The reclassification of Saudi Arabia as an eligible market for the FTSE EPRA Nareit series not only benefits investors in gaining access to a high potential real estate market, it also enables Saudi REITs to harmonise reporting and ESG standards valued by institutional investors. EPRA welcomes the inclusions and is encouraged for further expansion of the index in EMEA," he added.-TradeArabia News Service

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