Saudi Arabian Catering Co, a unit of Saudi Airlines (Saudia), is eyeing a bourse listing by March 2011, while its ground handling unit will merge in July with two other firms, top executives said. The national carrier of the world's top oil exporting country started a long process of privatization in 2006 when it divided the company into six units - catering, cargo, maintenance, airlines, flight academy and ground handling. Saudi Airlines has a fleet of 114 planes, including 35 Boeings and 35 Airbus A320s and is also awaiting the arrival of 35 more deliveries, according to its website. The airline plans to privatize its units individually, before offering them to the public through IPOs. The catering unit was the first to be privatized as Saudia sold 49 percent of it in 2008, followed by the cargo unit. The Saudi Arabian Catering Co is in the process of seeking regulatory approval to start the IPO, its Chief Executive Christopher Parent told Reuters. “The filing will be done very soon. We are finalizing all the documents ... the official procedure starts in July ... we believe this could be done within 8 to 11 months,” he said. “We should hopefully be able to list the company within the first quarter of 2011, March 2011,” Parent added. After the privatization of the catering unit, the ground handling services business was meant to follow last year with a merger between local firms National Handling Services and Attar Travel Company Ltd, but the due diligence process dragged on. “The process of evaluating the three companies took some time to finish ... (Now) the percentages have been decided. We are in the final step to sign the agreement,” said Abdulrahman Alhilali, managing director of Saudia's ground handling services. Saudi Airlines will hold 75 percent of the ground handling company, National Handling Services will hold 21 percent, and Attar Travel Company Ltd. will hold 4 percent, Alhilali told Reuters by phone. “This is expected to be signed in a few weeks,” he said.
