National Education’s IPO to start today on Tadawul

The National Company for Learning and Education’s (NCLE) initial public offering (IPO) will start today and will run for seven days until Oct. 28, the firm said in a statement.

The share offering aims to hike capital to SAR 430 million from SAR 300 million at a share price of SAR 19 per share.

Receiving entities Alinma Bank, Riyad Bank, and NCB, are prepared to offer 10 percent of the offering size, or 1.3 million shares, allocated to retail investors, Mohammed Al Dukheil, CEO of lead manager Al Dukheil Financial said.

The remaining 90 percent will be offered to institutional investors.

The Riyadh-based school operator will use the IPO’s net proceeds to expand its business by adding four new school complexes, three of which are located in the Eastern Province and one in Qassim, the firm’s deputy chairman and managing director, Khalid M. Ibrahim Al-Khudair, said.

The company currently has four operating educational complexes in Riyadh, in addition to a similar project under-construction.

The new complexes will increase the firm’s capacity from 17,200 students to 35,000 students by 2021, he added.

In May, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved the listing of 30.23 percent or 13 million shares of NCLE, Argaam previously reported.

Last week, the firm said the share offering for institutional investors was 155 percent oversubscribed

NCLE will be the first Tadawul-listed education company.