Euromoney, April 8 2021
A corporate restructuring is one of the final steps in readying Tadawul for an IPO this year. CEO Khalid Al-Hussan says the moment for listing is almost at hand
Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange, has announced a corporate restructuring ahead of an IPO that should take place later this year, with financial advisers and bookrunners set to be announced by the end of the month.
Khalid Al-Hussan, CEO of Saudi Tadawul Group, tells Euromoney on Thursday: “This is the right time do deliver an IPO as our next milestone.”
Tadawul will move to a holding group structure with four subsidiaries: Saudi Exchange, which will be a dedicated stock exchange company; Wamid, an applied technology solutions company; Muqassa, a securities clearing company, and Edaa, a securities depository.
Khalid describes the restructuring as the latest step in a transformation that began in 2017, along two streams.
One involved structural changes to the regulatory framework and operating model, which he credits with leading to Saudi Arabia’s successful inclusion in MSCI emerging markets benchmarks, the launching of derivatives and the record-breaking listing of Aramco.
The other was around market infrastructure, such as setting up the registrar as a separate organization, clearing futures contracts through Muqassa, and the launch of Wamid as an innovation arm in December.
“We believe we have completed our set-up,” says Khalid. “We gave the subsidiaries enough space for them to grow, while the group holding company and the innovation hub will look at more strategic, inorganic growth.
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