Alistithmar Cap CEO says SAIB’s free float rises 10% post treasury shares sale

The mechanism used to sell the shares is similar to that of purchasing rights issue shares during capital increase. However, the capital and the number of shares, in this case, was not changed, he said, pointing out that the process was the sale of pre-issued shares that come out of the bank's ownership to shareholders.

This mechanism gave priority to shareholders on the eligibility date, as these shares were sold at a preferential price. The approved offering price was SAR 13.5 per share, compared to the prevailing market price of about SAR 16.5 or SAR 17 during the offering period.

On Sept. 9, the bank announced selling 75 million treasury shares for SAR 1.03 billion, according to data compiled by Argaam.

Earlier, in August, SAIB launched the sale of 75 million treasury shares at SAR 13.50 per share.

The step came after the bank’s shareholders approved the sale of the shares acquired from JP Morgan International Finance Ltd. (56.25 million) and Mizuho Bank Ltd. (18.75 million) as treasury shares, during the extraordinary general assembly meeting (EGM) held on Aug. 4.

The process is intended to support the bank’s capital base, increase its liquidity ratios, and finance its expansion activities and future operations.

SAIB’s free-float stood at 407.7 million shares by the end of Q2 2021, representing 54.4% of the total bank’s shares.