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The Kingdom’s capital markets saw increased activity on an annual basis last quarter, with a shift towards private debt placements and a rise in Nomu market listings, according to the Capital Market Authority’s (CMA) latest quarterly bulletin (pdf). While equity offerings declined, institutional investors continued to dominate equity ownership. Nomu experienced strong trading and growth, while Tadawul saw a slight net selling trend from institutional investors.
Nomu listings accounted for over 80% of total IPO approvals in 4Q. The parallel market lined up 17 IPO and listing approvals in 4Q (up from 8 in 4Q 2023), with 28 pending listing applications. Meanwhile, the main market saw four approvals last quarter with 20 pending applications.
Equity remained heavily concentrated in institutional hands, with total market ownership reaching SAR 10.2 tn (down from SAR 11.3 tn in 4Q 2023), of which 95.5% is held by institutional investors. Local institutions — including government-related entities (GRE), corporates, funds and strategic partners — owned 85.8% of the total, while retail investors across the board held only 4.5% of Tadawul’s total equities.
Institutional investors were somewhat bearish on Tadawul last quarter, as they accounted for 47.1% of total sell-side trades versus 45.96% of total buys. GREs emerged as net sellers, offloading SAR 10.7 bn and buying SAR 9 bn. Meanwhile, retail investors were net buyers, with a net purchase position of nearly SAR 5.7 bn, according to our math.
Corporates leaned heavily on private debt placements to shore up balance sheets: The size of private debt placements in 4Q was more than 6.5x that of private equity offerings. Some 27 private debt issuances raised SAR 17.89 bn, up 62.6% y-o-y, compared to 7 private equity placements totaling SAR 2.7 bn, marking a 35.9% y-o-y increase.
ALSO- Capital market institutions generated a combined net income of SAR 2.5 bn in 4Q 2024, up from SAR 1.5 bn in 4Q 2023, while revenues were up 32.5% y-o-y to SAR 5.2 bn. Asset management and dealing activities drove the increase in aggregated revenues, contributing SAR 1.95 bn and SAR 571.3 mn respectively, while investment banking raked in some SAR 526.6 mn in revenues. Custody services added SAR 203.8 mn, while advisory services raked in SAR 59.8 mn.
