EFG Hermes concludes Al Habib Group’s $700 million IPO

The private healthcare operator has operations across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain

EFG Hermes, one of the financial services corporations in Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM), has announced that its investment banking team has completed advisory on Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Group’s SAR 2.63 billion ($700 million) IPO on Tadawul, with EFG Hermes acting as joint bookrunner on the deal.

The private healthcare operator, one of the largest in Saudi Arabia, has operations across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.

According to a statement from EFG Hermes, the group currently owns and operates seven healthcare facilities (six of which are in KSA and one in UAE) and thirteen pharmacies (twelve of which are in KSA and one in UAE), while operating and managing another seven healthcare centers (six of which are in KSA and one in Bahrain) and provides a range of medical and technical services (mainly for third parties).

Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Group began trading on Tuesday, March 17th under the Bloomberg stock symbol “SULAIMAN AB Equity”. The transaction saw the group offer 52.5 million shares (representing 15 per cent of its share capital) to investors at SAR 50.00 per share.

Taking Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Group to market bookends a series of successful deals we have managed to execute in Saudi Arabia, and is further proof that our strategy to ramp up our operations in KSA is bearing fruit, said Mohamed Ebied, Co-CEO of the Investment Bank at EFG Hermes.

In light of the current global equity market conditions, the successful close of this transaction and the stock’s strong performance on the first day of trading (up 10%), underscore both the strong fundamentals of Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Group, and our ability to attract global capital and funnel it into local investment opportunities through unmatched book-building and advisory services.

Mohamed Fahmi, Co-Head of Investment Banking at EFG Hermes commented: Despite bearish sentiment the world over in response to the impact that the recent COVID-19 outbreak has had on global markets’ growth, we remain confident that the strong fundamentals that underpin Saudi Arabia and FEM markets in general will continue to drive economic growth across the region.