Saudi Bourse Expects To Have a Record Year of Listings in 2025, CEO Says

Saudi Arabia's stock exchange expects to have a record year of listings, CEO Mohammed Al-Rumaih said in an interview on Tuesday.

The flurry of deals does not look close to halting and Saudi has been one of the most active venues globally in terms of volume in recent years, driven in part by government economic diversification strategies.

More than 50 applications are currently under review by the regulator and the exchange, Al-Rumaih said, adding that around 100 applications are with advisors waiting to be submitted to the regulator.

Fifteen IPO applications have been approved, Al-Rumaih said, speaking on the sidelines of the Capital Markets Forum in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia's bourse is the Gulf Arab region's largest, with average traded value of over $1 billion. The market opened up to foreign investors in 2015.

A run of IPOs in the Gulf has is due partly to local governments' economic diversification strategies and listings by private groups and family businesses.

Brokerage Derayah Financial, developer Umm Al Qura and poultry producer Entaj are among the companies that announced plans to float this year in Saudi Arabia, which in 2024 had the lion share in terms of volume of listings in the Gulf and saw significant over-subscription levels for certain offerings.

"I think on the back of very good performance of recent IPOs (in Saudi Arabia), people still have the appetite" and "everything is aligned to see a healthy pipeline," Mostafa Gad, Global Head of Investment Banking at EFG Hermes, told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit.

"I think in terms of deal count, (offerings) will be dominated by private sector and maybe we will have some companies that are government-owned," he said.

The healthcare, technology and education sectors will play a big role, he added.