SRMG snaps up Saudi financial news website

LONDON: The Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), the publisher of Arab News, has bought a controlling stake in a financial news service based in the Kingdom.

SRMG paid SR37.5 million ($10 million) for the 51 percent stake in the Argaam Investment and Trading Company, which publishes Argaam.com.

The deal comes amid increasing international interest in the Kingdom’s financial markets, which are opening up to increased foreign participation as part of a wide-ranging economic reform plan.

SRMG Chairman Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al-Saud said the acquisition will help pave the way to a “brighter future” for the digital content industry in Saudi Arabia.

The deal forms part of plans by SRMG to expand its range of specialized content.

“The acquisition of one of the most important economic websites in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world is a continuation of the group’s strategy to expand its specialized content portfolios in the world of finance, business, market economics and different media platforms,” said Dr. Ghassan Al-Shibl, managing director and chief executive of SRMG.

Saudi Arabian data has become a “strategic commodity” for potential investors weighing their options on how to invest in the Kingdom, Al-Shibl said in a statement.

This latest acquisition follows news last month that SRMG had signed a deal with the New York-headquartered news conglomerate Bloomberg to launch Bloomberg Al Arabiya — a new multi-platform Arabic-language business and financial news service.