Shares of Arabian Drilling Company , a Saudi oilfield services firm, were up 18% above its listing price on its market debut in Riyadh on Monday, in a sign that investors still have appetite for local flotations despite a gloomy outlook for the world economy.
The shares traded at 118 riyals ($31.40) at Tadawul's open, from an IPO price of 100 riyals a share. The flotation, the latest in a string of IPOs from the Gulf that have defied global market trends, raised 2.67 billion riyals.
Arabian Drilling was priced at the top end of a range announced last month, valuing the company at 8.9 billion riyals.
The Industrialization & Energy Services Company (TAQA) and Services Petroliers Schlumberger S.A., owned by Schlumberger (now SLB), sold a 30% stake in the company in the IPO.
($1 = 3.7575 riyals)
(Reuters - Reporting by Yousef Saba, Editing by Louise Heavens)