Saudi Arabia’s Alhokair Follows Emaar With Mall Unit IPO

Saudi Arabia’s Fawaz Alhokair Group plans to raise $2 billion from the initial public offering of its Arabian Centres malls unit, surpassing a similar sale by rival Dubai operator Emaar Properties PJSC (EMAAR) earlier this year.

A financial adviser for the sale of the 30 percent stake will be hired before the end of the year, Muhanad Awad, chief executive officer of FAS Capital, the financial and investment arm of Fawaz Alhokair Group, said yesterday by phone. The IPO will probably take place on the Saudi Stock Exchange in 2016, he said. Arabian Centres owns 15 malls in Saudi Arabia with nine more under construction. It also has one outlet in Egypt.

At $2 billion, the IPO would surpass the $1.6 billion raised in September by Dubai’s Emaar Malls, operator of the world’s largest shopping center by area. Emaar, which sold 15 percent of its unit, attracted 104 million visitors to its malls in 2013, compared with more than 140 million shoppers at Arabian Centres developments such as Jeddah’s Mall of Arabia.

“We’re still in the early stages of working on this and discussing with potential financial advisers,” Awad said. “The offering will be similar to what Emaar Malls did, maybe a bit bigger. We’ll raise about $2 billion or a little more.”

Fawaz Alhokair Group listed its Alhokair Fashion Retail unit in 2006, also known as Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Co.