Saudi bourse operator Tadawul sets price range for up to $1 billion IPO

DUBAI (Reuters) -Saudi Tadawul Group, the kingdom's stock exchange operator, has set an indicative price range for its initial public offering which shows it could raise up to 3.78 billion riyals ($1.01 billion) in the deal.

Saudi Tadawul plans to sell 36 million shares in the price range of 95 riyals to 105 riyals a share, it said in a stock exchange filing.

Saudi Tadawul's listing plan comes after a boom in IPO activity in the kingdom following the listing of Saudi Aramco in 2019, which raised $29.4 billion in the world's biggest flotation.

Prominent IPOs this year have been ACWA Power International $1.2 billion flotation and Saudi Telecom Co's IPO of its unit, Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co, which raised about $966 million.

Saudi Tadawul said the final price for its offering will be determined after the completion of the book-building process, which begins on Sunday and ends on November 26.

The market capitalisation of companies listed on Tadawul is around $2.7 trillion, making the bourse the Arab world’s largest stock exchange.

Saudi Arabia's stock exchange has converted itself into a holding company and will be renamed Saudi Tadawul Group ahead of the listing this year, Group Chief Executive Khalid al-Hussan said previously.

The group has four subsidiaries - its bourse Saudi Exchange, securities clearing and depository businesses and technology services.

SNB Capital Co, JPMorgan Saudi Arabia and Citigroup Saudi Arabia are acting as financial Advisors, joint global coordiantors, underwriters and bookrunners.

($1 = 3.7504 riyals)

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Michael Perry)