BIG Holding’s $146.5m IPO draws orders worth $2.5bn

Kuwait’s Beyout Investment Group (BIG Holding) has attracted $2.5bn (KWD767m) in investor orders for its initial public offering (IPO) on the local bourse, in what is set to be the country’s first listing in around two years.

BIG Holding, which provides human resources and real estate services, priced its IPO at the top of the range, selling its shares at 500 fils per share to raise KWD45m.

The pricing of 500 fils per share implies a market valuation of around KWD150m ($488m) at listing. The company is offering 90 million shares, equivalent to 30 per cent of its total issued share capital.

Founded in 1991, BIG Holding provides manpower solutions and manages real estate projects including build-operate-transfer and public-private partnership deals. Its customers include the US Government as well as the Kuwait Oil Company.

The holding firm hired National Investments Company and EFG-Hermes UAE as joint bookrunners and joint global coordinators on the deal.

There has been a flurry of IPO activity in the GCC region over the past four years.

So far this year, firms such as Saudi Arabian flour mills company Modern Mills and UAE supermarket franchisee Spinneys have listed, while others such as SMASCO and Abu Dhabi-based edtech firm Alef Education have announced intentions to float. However, the IPO market has been less active compared to the previous year.

Companies in the MENA region raised $1.2bn in IPO proceeds in the first quarter of this year, down 66 per cent compared to the corresponding period a year earlier.

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