Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange gets a revamp ahead of anticipated IPO this year

Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange gets a revamp ahead of anticipated IPO this year

Investors monitor a screen displaying stock information at the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) following the debut of Saudi Aramco's initial public offering (IPO) on the Riyadh's stock market, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 11, 2019.

Saudi Arabia's stock exchange, the Tadawul, has announced its conversion into a holding company with four subsidiaries as it prepares for an initial public offering this year.

"The setup that we have, the market momentum, our financial performance, all of these indicators just give us the comfort to say this is the right time to float the company and to be among developed exchanges and listed also on their platforms," Saudi Tadawul Group CEO Khalid Al Hussan told CNBC's Hadley Gamble after the announcement Wednesday.  

The Tadawul All Share Index, made up of 198 companies, is up 15% year-to-date. And investors who've accumulated cash during the course of the pandemic are looking for places to put it. 

The new parent company is now called the Saudi Tadawul Group, instead of Tadawul, with four portfolio companies: the Saudi Exchange (its stock exchange business previously known as the Saudi Stock Exchange Company - Tadawul), a securities clearing company, a securities depository company, and Wamid, a new technology services business focused on