HSBC predicts Saudi privatisation drive to list 100 entities

[DUBAI] About 100 entities in sectors including mining, healthcare and energy are likely to be listed on Saudi Arabia's stock market as part of the kingdom's privatisation drive, a top HSBC executive said on Monday.

Close to 180 companies are listed currently. Georges Elhedery, HSBC's chief executive for the Middle East and North Africa, did not give a time frame for the listings but said they were part of plans to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil by 2030.

Mr Elhedery, speaking at an event to mark the 150th anniversary of Thomson Reuters operations in the region, also said the region's debt capital market issuance this year was likely to exceed last year's record level.

HSBC is advising the Saudi stock exchange on the exchange's planned listing of its own shares, and industry sources have told Reuters that the bank will play a key advisory role in the upcoming listing of national oil giant Saudi Aramco.

REUTERS