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Saudi Global Ports Taps Banks for Up to $1 Billion IPO

By Laura Gardner Cuesta, Julia Fioretti, and Matthew Martin
Containers on board the MSC Diana container ship at the Port of Felixstowe, owned by a unit of CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., in Felixstowe, UK, on Monday, March 4, 2024. By attacking ships plying the Red Sea, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have caused the biggest disruption to global trade since the Covid-19 pandemic and provoked a military response, including US and UK airstrikes on Yemen. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- State-backed Saudi Global Ports Co. has picked banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc to help arrange a planned Riyadh initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

The port operator owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund and Singapore’s PSA International Pte could be listed as early as next year, according to the people, who declined to be named discussing confidential information. The deal could raise up to $1 billion, the people said.

No final decisions have been made on the timing and size of the offering. Representatives for Saudi Global Ports, PIF, PSA, Goldman and HSBC declined to comment. 

Bloomberg News previously reported that the port operator was among the companies owned by the PIF that was being considered for an IPO. PSA is owned by Singapore’s state investor Temasek Holdings Pte.

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The PIF is the main entity tasked with delivering Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s multitrillion-dollar Vision 2030 plan, which envisages substantial investments into the kingdom’s transports and logistics industry, among others.

The nearly $1 trillion wealth fund is lining up stake sales in portfolio companies — including medical procurement firm Nupco — to finance the economy’s diversification away from oil. This year, the PIF sold part of its holdings in a mobile-phone operator for about $1 billion, while the Saudi government raised about $12.4 billion from a stake sale in oil major Aramco. 

Also Read: Saudi Fund Eyes Bond Sales, IPOs to Finance Spending Ambitions

Saudi Global Ports was formed in 2012 and operates container terminals in King Abdulaziz Port on the country’s east coast, according to its website. The port is the largest container terminal on the Persian Gulf. It also manages Riyadh Dry Port.

--With assistance from Nicolas Parasie.

(Corrects story first published on Dec. 16 to clarify that the Saudi government sold part of its stake in Aramco)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.