DUBAI (Reuters) – Nahdi Medical Co, Saudi Arabia’s market leader in retail pharmacy, on Sunday announced its intention to list on the local bourse by selling 30% of its shares, joining a spate of new initial public offerings in the kingdom.
Nahdi has 1,151 pharmacies, catering to the needs of more than 100 million customers, as well polyclinics and express clinics, it said.
It posted a revenue at 8.6 billion riyals ($2.3 billion) in 2020, reflecting a three-year compound annual growth rate 8.4%, higher than the industry retailers’ average of 7.9%, Nahdi said.
The price in the offering will be determined at the end of a book-building period, which a company executive said is expected to start in March.
Nahdi has appointed HSBC Saudi Arabia and SNB Capital as joint financial advisers, bookrunners and underwriters.
Saudi Arabia has witnessed a surge of IPOs since it listed oil giant Saudi Aramco in a record $29.4 billion listing in 2019.
The country’s bourse operator Tadawul, which also listed last year, said in December it had 50 applications from companies for IPOs this year and is considering whether to allow blank-cheque companies, known as SPACs, to list.
($1 = 3.7522 riyals)
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by William Mallard)
