Fakeeh Care Group’s $763.4m IPO oversubscribed 119 times

Image credit: FAYEZ NURELDINE/ Getty Images

Saudi Arabia’s Fakeeh Care Group, one of the kingdom’s biggest healthcare providers, has attracted $91bn (SAR341bn) in investor orders for its initial public offering (IPO) on the local bourse, in what is set to be the kingdom’s biggest listing of the year.

Fakeeh priced its IPO at the top of the previously announced range, selling its shares at SAR57.5 per share apiece to raise SAR2.9bn, amid robust investor demand, which saw the offering oversubscribed by 119 times.

“Looking ahead, we are very excited about the future, leveraging our integrated healthcare model, well-established academic roots and utilisation of advanced technologies to play a key role in Saudi Arabia’s growth trajectory for decades to come,” said Dr Mazen Soliman Fakeeh, president of Fakeeh Care Group.

The strong investor demand shows that the appetite for listings in the Middle East remains healthy even as IPOs elsewhere struggle to gain traction.

The pricing of SAR57.5 per share implies a market valuation of around SAR13.3bn at listing. The healthcare group is offering plans to offer 30 million new shares and 19.8 million existing shares to investors – equivalent to 21.47 per cent of its paid-up capital.

Fakeeh’s shares will be listed on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) after the completion of the IPO and listing formalities with the stock exchange and the kingdom’s markets regulator.

The healthcare group, which operates hospitals in Jeddah and Riyadh, plans to use the proceeds from the sale of new shares to finance its growth strategy.

Founded in 1978, Fakeeh Care Group has 900 doctors, 835 beds, 374 examination rooms and 40 operating theatres across four hospitals and five medical centres. The healthcare group plans to expand to seven hospitals with 1,675 beds and nine medical centres by 2028.

Its revenues reached $613m (SAR2.3bn) in 2023, up from SAR1.7bn in 2020 while its profit in 2023 came in at SAR232m.

Read: Saudi Arabia’s Fakeeh Care Group to sell 21.47% stake in Riyadh IPO