Citigroup joins team of advisors for Flynas IPO: report

Citigroup has joined Morgan Stanley and NCB Capital as advisors for the initial public offering (IPO) of Flynas, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The budget airline, partly owned by Kingdom Holding Co, plans to sell shares by the end of the year or early 2019, the sources told the news agency.

Citigroup has been rebuilding its operations in Saudi Arabia, having secured a license to conduct capital markets business in the Kingdom in April last year.

The bank lost its Saudi license after selling its stake in Samba Financial Group in 2004.  

Flynas, which began operations as Nas Air in 2007, has been weighing a share sale since 2008 and would be the first airline to be listed on the stock exchange.

In January, company CEO Bander Al Mohanna said the airline expects to boost its local market share to 30 percent over the coming period through upgrades of existing fleet, receipt of new aircraft, and addition of new routes.