MyAdhan Blog

Link: Mobily’s founders plan to sell 100 million shares

The founding shareholders of Mobily (Etihad Etisalat), Saudi Arabian mobile telephone operator, intend to sell 100 million shares of the stock that they own, and have informed the company accordingly. Mobily’s founders are the UAE’s Emirates Telecommunications Corp., which owns a 35-per cent stake. Six Saudi institutional investors including the state-run Public Pension Agency and the General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOSI) have 45 per cent of the company’s shares. It was announced recently that the board of directors had taken two crucial decisions regarding the sale of shares by its founding shareholders and the increase of its capital. T he founding shareholders will offer to sell 20 per cent of their shares to local and foreign investors during the third year of the company’s lifetime. According to Khaled Al Kaf, Mobily chief executive, the company has already taken the approval from the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), the stock market regulator, to complete the process. CMA Chairman Abdul Rahman Al Tuwaijri had said in a television interview earlier that Saudi Arabia would soon allow foreigners to invest in its stocks and initial public offerings (IPOs). Al Tuwaijri explained that the CMA would allow investment through domestic funds which will be established by licensed firms. Al Kaf said Mobily would raise its capital by 40 per cent, or by SR2 billion to SR7 billion from the current capital of SR5 billion by issuing 100 million new shares.