King Abdullah Port IPO ‘likely’ in five years: report

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Port is considering an initial public offering (IPO) to boost its growth, Arab News reported, citing the chief of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), which is home to the port.

“We aim to be one of the world’s largest shipping hubs, with a possible share sale set to spur its expansion,” Ahmed Linjawy, group CEO of Emaar, The Economic City — the Tadawul-listed company that is developing KAEC — said.

“To kickstart some of the future projects, we will need other sources of funding. We’re going more and more into project financing for specific projects — an IPO for the port — and some of our other businesses as well,” Linjawy said.

The IPO of King Abdullah Port is likely “within the next five years,” he added.

“We haven’t started any official talks (for the port IPO), and our talks with the banks right now are … about the project financing of our new developments, such as hotels and some of the utility projects, like our desalination plant,” Linjawy further noted.