Amidst anticipation of IPO amendments... 31 companies awaiting IPO in the Saudi market

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The expected amendments from the Saudi Capital Market Authority to the public offering market are gaining additional importance with the presence of 31 companies in line waiting for IPO approvals at the Capital Market Authority, which makes any regulatory changes or development in underwriting mechanisms an influential factor in the new listing market, which has witnessed remarkable activity in recent years.

The Authority proposed a project to improve the practices of initial offerings with the aim of strengthening the link between the applications submitted by the participating entities with liquidity and the actual ability to pay, and establishing compliance with the applications in accordance with clear regulatory provisions, in a way that supports the reliability of the process of building the order book and its role in determining the offering price.

The Capital Market Authority revealed that the number of existing offering applications with the Authority for companies intending to offer their shares in the Saudi market reached 31 applications by the end of the second quarter of 2026.

The Capital Market Authority reported, in its recently issued quarterly bulletin, that there were 17 applications for companies intending to offer their shares in the main market, compared to 14 registration requests for companies intending to offer their shares in the parallel market “Nomu” or entering for the purpose of direct listing.

The number of offering applications reached 51 applications at the end of the second quarter of 2025, with 16 listing applications on the main market on the Saudi Tadawul, compared to 32 applications in the parallel market.

Data from the Capital Market Authority showed that only 3 companies obtained approval to offer or register their shares for listing in the parallel market during the second quarter of 2026, while no company obtained approval in the main market.

The Authority reported that the number of offering or registration applications that were not approved during the second quarter of this year amounted to one application to register shares in the parallel market, while no applications for public offerings in the main market were rejected.

Observers believe that any facilitation of procedures or development of underwriting and allocation mechanisms may reflect positively on the plans of these companies and enhance the pace of new listings during the coming period.

Director of Zad Consulting Center, Hussein Al-Raqeeb, said that the new rules announced by the Saudi Capital Market Authority to regulate public offerings contribute to increasing governance of new offerings.

Al-Raqib added, in a previous interview with Al Arabiya Business, that companies have become obligated to cover IPOs with cash or cash equivalents, and therefore no company can participate in IPOs unless cash is available to it, as companies are treated as individuals are treated, that is, withholding the amount until the allocation while releasing the funds after the allocation.

The sergeant continued: “We will not see a very large number of coverage transactions being received, and the coverage and prices will be within normal limits, and therefore the company’s pricing will be fair to investors, and it will be verified that the requests reflect the true value of the company.”

He explained that liquidity must be available to the investor in order to ensure that these requests are actual and not requests in order to maximize or increase allocations to the shares that are allocated.

One of the most prominent items proposed in the new amendments is linking requests for building the order book to the real liquidity available to the investor and not to theoretical or exaggerated requests. Obligating the financial advisor and participating parties to verify the actual financial solvency of investors participating in building the order book. Enhancing the underwriter's responsibility so that the underwriting agreement becomes effective before book building begins.

The amendments also included holding the underwriter responsible for purchasing unsubscribed shares if the offering was not fully covered. Requiring companies to disclose future expectations and performance indicators for a period of no less than a full year to support pricing efficiency.

The number of new companies listed in the second quarter of this year was one company, with a market value of $182 million (682.5 million riyals). The number of new companies listed decreased significantly compared to the listing of 13 new companies in the same quarter of the year 2025, with a market value of $6.82 billion (25.58 billion riyals).

As for the private offering of shares, the second quarter of 2026 witnessed the receipt of two offerings that included employee stock programs, while 7 offerings were completed during this quarter with a value of $87.57 million (328.4 million riyals) and included offering requests received in previous periods.

The number of subscribers to public offerings according to subscription channels decreased by 93.1% during the second quarter of 2026, bringing the number of subscribers to 95.8 thousand, compared to 1.39 million subscribers in the corresponding quarter of last year, noting that the number of subscribers includes data on public offerings of shares in the main market and data on public offerings of debt instruments.

The majority of subscribers to public offerings in the second quarter of this year were online, with 93.12 thousand subscribers, followed by phone banking with 2,189 subscribers, and then branches with 496 subscribers.

It is noteworthy that the number of companies listed on the main market reached 270 companies in the second quarter of 2026 AD, and the total value of shares traded during this quarter amounted to 86.8 billion dollars (325.5 billion riyals), while the total market value reached 2.516 trillion dollars (9.436 trillion riyals), while the market value of free shares reached 835.81 billion dollars (3.134 trillion riyals).