Saudi bourse to seek cross listings to boost foreign investment

27/02/2017 06:02 AST

Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange is seeking to secure its first regional cross listing by 2018 to boost foreign investment in the Middle East’s largest bourse.

The Tadawul, as the market is known, will hold discussions with companies already listed on other exchanges in the Gulf Cooperation Council to encourage them to also list shares in the kingdom, Chief Executive Officer Khalid Al Hussan said in an interview in Riyadh on Sunday. “Definitely by 2018 we would expect to see at least one company cross listing onto the main market from another exchange,” he said. The Tadawul also wants private companies in the GCC to sell shares on its alternative market, Nomu, with the first expected this year, he said. Saudi Arabia is adopting a series of measures to increase international participation in one of the world’s most restricted exchanges after oil prices slumped over the past two years. The Tadawul started allowing limited foreign direct investment in 2015 and continued to ease restrictions last year. Foreigners currently own about 4 percent of shares.

The kingdom only has Saudi Arabian companies listed on its bourse. Aluminium Bahrain, which is listed in Manama, halted plans to be the first non-Saudi company to list on the Tadawul in 2015, Chief Executive Officer Tim Murray said at the time.

The Tadawul is also on track for its own initial public offering next year, Al Hussan said. The exchange hired HSBC Holdings Plc’s Saudi unit as a financial adviser for the sale in May.

Gulfnews