Saudi based travel firm, Al-Tayyar Travel Group, will raise SR1.2 billion ($320mm) from an initial public offering (IPO). The company is considering a 30 percent stake in a UK counterpart as part of its expansion plans. Next April Al-Tayyar will offer shares in the first IPO by a travel services firm on the Saudi bourse. Nasser Al-Tayyar, the company’s president, said “We are offering 24 million shares and expect to raise about 1.2 billion riyals.”
Al Tayyar organizes holiday packages, arranges flight bookings and residential services, and has a corporate car rental service. The travel firm has offices in the Middle East, India, Thailand, Malaysia, the United States, Canada, and plans to spend SR500m over the next two years for expansion., to be funded by current capital and bank loans. Al-Tayyar began as a family business in 1979 with capital of SR1 million, which has grown to SR800 million.
