Over 2014, there has been a welcome recovery of initial public offering (IPO) activity in the GCC region. According to PwC, 16 GCC companies went to regional markets, raising a total of $10.8bn. The tail end of the year proved to be a particularly fruitful time, accounting for $7.3bn of the total and raising hopes that 2015 would see the...
The corporate governance regimes of Saudi Arabia’s family-owned businesses (FOBs) are a salient talking point in financial circles, for obvious reasons. Estimates as to their contribution to GDP vary, but a 2012 study by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry claimed that the Kingdom’s FOBs in that year accounted for around SR350bn ($93...
Home to the holiest site in Islam – the Grand Mosque and the Kaaba contained within it – and a place of pilgrimage for millions of Muslims, Makkah is a unique city. Its special status also presents local authorities with a unique set of challenges, not least how to expand capacity and facilities in a way that both satisfies the needs of...
Thanks to its large population, a renowned hydrocarbons industry and an increasingly diverse non-oil sector, Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s wealthiest nations and a member of the G20 group of major economies. IMF data shows its GDP to be larger than that of advanced economies such as Sweden, Norway and Austria, as well as those of Middle...
While the domestic private equity (PE) sphere continues to grow, international players are also paying closer attention to the Saudi market. In April 2015 the US buyout firm TPG Capital inked a deal that gave it majority stake in the family-owned fast food chain Kudu, a transaction which according to earlier reports valued the Saudi Arabian...
The opening up of the GCC’s stock exchanges to foreign investment has been a salient feature of market commentary in recent years. The global economic crisis sent shockwaves through regional exchanges and, in the ensuing period of depressed trading, regulators around the Gulf embarked upon a market reform effort in a bid to attract scarce...
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