DUBAI  - Saudi Arabian supermarket retailer Bindawood Holding has postponed its planned initial public offering (IPO) to September, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Bindawood, which controls supermarket chains under its own brand and Danube in the kingdom, was preparing for a public share sale in the second quarter.

However, the IPO market worldwide has been hit by the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The market in the Gulf tends to cool in the summer anyway, before picking up again in September.

The Saudi market regulator, the Capital Market Authority (CMA), approved Bindawood's application to list in June. The regulator gives companies six months from the date of approval to list.

Bindawood and the CMA declined to comment.

The supermarket group last year hired Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, NCB Capital and GIB to organise the deal, the sources said, with Moelis & Co acting as a financial adviser.

Bindawood and Danube, like grocers around the world, have seen a spike in demand during the lockdown to curb the pandemic.

Reuters previously reported the company planned to launch its IPO as early as June. The IPO would be filed as a regulation S offering, making it open to institutional investors outside the United States.

Private equity firm Investcorp acquired a minority stake in Bindawood Holding in 2016. Should the IPO go ahead, it could become the third Saudi investment that Investcorp has exited through a public share sale in the last five years.

Investcorp declined to comment.

Saudi Arabia's bourse, the Tadawul, has welcomed a slew of companies this year including healthcare firm Suleiman Al Habib and real estate financing firm Amlak International.

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by Mark Potter) ((Hadeel.AlSayegh@thomsonreuters.com; +971566883310;))