The Kingdom Holding initial public offering in Saudi Arabia last month was the much-anticipated climax of the flotation eagerness that has characterized GCC equity markets since 2004. IPO lead manager for Samba Financial Group announced that 1.25 million subscribers submitted orders for the 315 million shares which Kingdom Holding put on the market at SR 10.25 ($2.74) per share, a total share offering worth about $860 million. Demand, according to Samba, reached $2.3 billion, representing subscription coverage of 264%. Kingdom Holding will be the fifth-largest listed company in Saudi Arabia, but the company’s founder and best-known Arab entrepreneur, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, will retain over 93% ownership of the holding company with its local and international assets. Although offering merely 5% of Kingdom Holding’s stock for sale — substantially less than the 30% Prince Al-Waleed had talked about earlier — the IPO carried a message of trust in the Saudi
