The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) declared that it is poised to issue part of its stakes on Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2018. The President of the Board of Directors of Tadawul Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Rabiah said the company, the sole entity authorized to carry out trading in securities in the country, is ready to carry out this qualitative leap after having obtained the necessary higher and regulatory approvals. In a statement on the company's website, he said that Tadawul holds a leading position among emerging markets in terms of its liquidity and traded value as the Saudi stock market represents 51% of the total market capitalization of the GCC Capital Market and 79% of the total values traded in them. Al-Rabiah pointed out that offering part of the ownership of the company to the public aims to keep pace with the national economic transformation plan given its vital economic leverage that serves nearly five million investors, 80 financial companies and 270 listed and unlisted companies. He said that, since its inception in 2007, Tadawul has invested in the market's infrastructure, most notably the technical systems and Saudi cadres, adopting a number of pre-public-offering process major initiatives . He pointed that such initiatives are aimed at further developing the market through investing in deposit, clearing and settlement transactions at an estimated budget worth more than one billion Saudi Riyals. Tadawul has recently achieved many of its strategic objectives, he said, citing the opening of direct subscription for foreign investors, for the first time in the history of the Kingdom, and transferring all its exchanges with X-Steam INET. -- SPA 13:11 LOCAL TIME 10:11 GMT تغريد
