JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange (Tadawul) on Wednesday announced that it will become a holding company under the name Tadawul Group, with four subsidiaries.
The transformation comes amid preparations for the group’s initial public offering expected later this year.
The four new Saudi Tadawul Group companies are Tadawul, Maqasa, Edaa and a new company, Wamed.
Wamed will specialize in the group’s innovation and technological solutions arm, with Mohammed Al-Nouri as president.
It will contribute to diversifying the company’s scope, provide innovative technical solutions in various fields, and contribute to integrating the financial market structure.
Sarah Al-Suhaimi, chairperson of Saudi Tadawul Group, told a press conference on Wednesday that the plan to launch an IPO was previously announced in 2016.
“At that time, the owner and the Tadawul board postponed the step due to the changes that the company was making, such as establishing the two companies, Maqasa and Edaa, as well as striving work to join Tadawul into emerging markets, and then listing the largest company in the world, Aramco for IPO,” she said.
Al-Suhaimi added: “Tadawul was working day and night to accomplish many things that almost no other market had accomplished in such a short period. Now that the situation has stabilized, and after the board obtained the owner’s approval and the authority to restructure Tadawul and make it a holding group, the time has come to launch its IPO.”
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