RIYADH: By selling a 2% interest in telecom company STC, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund collected SR3.86 billion ($1.03 billion). Local and foreign institutional investors responded favorably to the sale, which included 100 million shares priced at SR38.6 each, according to a release. The deal, which is the biggest accelerated bookbuild offering ever made in Saudi Arabia and the larger Middle East and North Africa region, highlights the strong desire of investors to get exposure to the telecom industry in the area as well as PIF’s important assets.
According to the statement, “PIF reaffirms the strategic significance of its stake in STC and its varied collaborations with the organization through several PIF portfolio companies.” “As one of its priority sectors, PIF looks forward to supporting stc’s leading role in shaping the future of the ICT sector in Saudi Arabia,” the statement continued. After the transaction, PIF still owns 3.1 billion shares, or 62 percent, of STC.
The sale is in line with PIF’s overarching plan to reinvest funds in developing local industries as the fund works to realize its goal of becoming a major player in international investment. PIF, which currently oversees assets worth about $925 billion, seeks to influence international markets and promote economic change in Saudi Arabia. According to sources who spoke to Arab News, the demand from foreign investors was responsible for three times the transaction’s five-fold oversubscription at the offer price.
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