ElKuwaiz says 23 companies awaiting listing completion, non-compliant applications rejected

Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), Mohammed ElKuwaiz

Mohammed Elkuwaiz, Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), said 23 companies are awaiting listing completion, and the authority is currently looking into 77 applications of companies planning to list their shares on the main and Nomu markets.

During his participation in the Saudi Stock Market Forum 2023, Elkuwaiz said the CMA rejected for the first time some listing requests that do not comply with the disclosure and governance standards, expecting the rejection of non-compliant applications to increase over the coming period.

Confidence in liquidity to cover the increasing subscriptions is driven by the high number of foreign investors, which leads to a rise in foreign cash flows, the Chairman said, adding that foreign cash flows amounted to SAR 43 billion in 2022.

Further, Elkuwaiz said foreigners dominate less than 15% of the total number of investors in the Saudi market, noting that there is a significant increase in the number of foreign investors, which is reflected on ownership percentage and trading volume.

This comes as a result of the increased offerings that are attractive to foreign investors, as well as the strong weight of the Saudi market among global indices.

The authority is considering some dual-listing applications, which grew after Americana Restaurants International PLC Co.'s listing last year.

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