PIF wraps Masar follow-on offering: The Public Investment Fund (PIF) floated an additional 3.3% stake in Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction Company (Masar) through an accelerated bookbuild on Tadawul, raising more than SAR 950 mn (USD 253 mn), according to a press release. The 48 mn shares on offer were priced at SAR 19.80 apiece, a 9.9% discount to the property developer’s last close, according to our calculations.

Who bought in: Both local and international institutional investors participated in the offering, which PIF said was oversubscribed, though the exact coverage rate was not disclosed. The PIF’s stake in Masar will drop to 16.3%, subject to a 90-day lockup.

A still-hot stock: The latest offer price represents a 32% premium to Masar’s final IPO price ofSAR 15. The stock has climbed 47% YTD on investor interest in the kingdom’s push to expand religious tourism, making it one of Tadawul’s strongest performers this year amid an otherwise muted market. The company is currently developing a USD 27 bn project in Mecca.

ICYMI- Masar took a 9.1% stake to market in a SAR 2 bn primary IPO eight months ago, a sale that drew 241x institutional and 20x retail demand, while the PIF kept its interest intact at the time.

The rationale? PIF said the sale props up Masar’s free-float and broadens its institutional investor base. We think it also nudges the company closer to meeting the liquidity and ownership criteria used by global index providers — think MSCI inclusion.

IN CONTEXT- This is the sovereign fund’s first sell-down in over a year, following its roughly USD 1 bn disposal in STC. The sale also lands in a mixed market for Saudi equities. While the Kingdom was the busiest IPO market in MENA this year raising nearly USD 4 bn, only two of the ten largest listings traded above offer levels, according to Bloomberg data. TASI also lagged EM peers as weaker oil prices weighed on sentiment and raised questions over government spending.

A broader playbook: The fund has traditionally used secondary selldowns to deepen market liquidity and recycle capital into domestic projects, but planned flotations slowed as market conditions softened, including the potential IPO of Saudi Global Ports, Bloomberg reports.

ADVISORS- Our friends at EFG Hermes quarterbacked the block trade alongside SNB Capital and Citigroup, according to Bloomberg.

The story was also picked up by Bloomberg and Reuters.

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