No respite near for battered Saudi stocks
Dwindling IPO line-up is a complication for kingdom as it plans to boost stock exchange
Add this to the reasons why 2016 isn’t the year for Saudi stocks: the IPO pipeline is drying up.
Two companies have announced plans for initial public offerings this year, down from six in 2015, putting the Saudi market on track for its slowest line-up since 2004. That compares with nine in Malaysia, another energydependent developing economy whose main stock index is poised for its third straight annual drop following the retreat in oil prices.
The dwindling IPO line-up is a complication for the kingdom as it plans to double the size of its $368 billion (Dh1.3 trillion) stock exchange and boost the number of traded companies by about 50 per cent to 250 in seven years. The nation is overhauling its economy to reduce its dependency on energy, and that includes cutting government spending and selling shares in stateowned oil giant Aramco, in early 2018.
“You can forget about new companies wanting to go public,” said Mohammed Alsuwayed, the Riyadh-based head of capital and money markets at Adeem Capital. “Reduction in spending, contractionary policy and austerity measures are not good for the market and if it’s not good for the market, then it’s not going to provide any good valuation or sentiment for companies that were considering IPOs.”
While the head of the nation’s Capital Market Authority says the equity market is ready for Aramco’s IPO, potentially the world’s biggest, the Tadawul All Share Index is the worst performer across the Middle East and North Africa this year, even after the kingdom allowed foreigners direct access to its stock market for the first time in 2015, and further relaxed the rules two weeks ago.
Foreign money
Al Yamamah Steel Industries Co announced its plan to go public at the end of March and L’Azurde Co for Jewelry followed more than a month later. With the number of deals worldwide almost halving this year to about 1,280 compared with all of 2015, Saudi Arabia’s dwindling IPO pipeline isn’t unique. But unlike most nations, the kingdom prohibits foreigners from participating in share sales.
That will soon change. As part of its plan to open one of the world’s most closed equity markets, the Tadawul Stock Exchange will allow foreign investors to subscribe to initial public offerings in the kingdom for the first time starting January 1. It’s a “positive” step, said Mohammad Al Hajj, Dubai-based strategist at EFG-Hermes UAE Ltd.