Four IPOs in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region have raised around $26 billion during the fourth quarter of 2019, according to a PwC report.
The GCC region saw a significant rise in IPO activity in the last three months of 2019. Reportedly, deals in the fourth quarter accounted for 96 percent of the annual regional IPO proceeds.
The most noteworthy was Saudi Aramco’s IPO which raised around $25.6 billion. The event was also marked as the biggest share sale in the world, overtaking Alibaba’s IPO.
The report further revealed that even though GCC companies raised huge amounts through IPOs, the number of deals was down from 17 in 2018 to just eight in 2019.
The Tadawul continued to be the front runner amongst the GCC stock markets in terms of both number of listings and proceeds raised.
Mohamed El Borno, partner, Head of Assurance at PwC Middle East told the media “Q4 was a remarkable quarter in terms of equity capital markets. $26 billion was raised, primarily relating to the IPO of Saudi Aramco on Tadawul – the world’s highest value listing to date. It was also an eventful year in the GCC debt market with Dubai becoming one of the largest global centres for sukuk listings by value. Saudi Arabia was also active, with the Ministry of Finance issuing $1.2 billion worth of sukuk in Q4 alone.
“While we do expect macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties to continue in the near term and inevitably affect GCC market activity, companies that are well prepared and have solid investments will continue to benefit from the region’s debt and equity capital markets.”