Dar Albalad surges on Tadawul debut

Dar Albalad's debut breaks post-war IPO ice: Shares in IT services firm Dar Albalad for Business Solutions surged 28.21% on their first trading day on Tadawul yesterday, closing at SAR 12.50 against the SAR 9.75 offer price, making it the best-performing stock on the main market yesterday.

The increase comfortably cleared the 30% daily fluctuation limit applied to new listings on day one, and signaled that investor appetite for Saudi equities has survived the Iran war intact.

ICYMI- Dar Albalad floated 21 mn shares, or 30% of its capital, raising SAR 205 mn at the top of its guiding range, valuing the company at some SAR 682 mn. The institutional book-build was 66.6x oversubscribed, while the retail tranche pulled in SAR 231 mn in orders from more than 90k retail subscribers.

Why this matters: This was the first listing in the GCC since the start of the Iran war, and bankers had flagged it as a litmus test for regional sentiment. The surge on its first day should make life easier for the next issuer in the queue.

Next up: Contractor Mutlaq Al Ghowairi is lining up an IPO that’s expected to raise some SAR 3 bn, a much bigger test of how deep that regional appetite actually runs. Institutional bookbuilding is scheduled to start on 31 May.

A little bit about Dar Albalad: The company started in 2001 as a one-man IT shop in Riyadh, founded by Ibrahim Bin Salamah — a former vice chairman and MD at Sabic. It has spent the last 25 years building out IT managed services, consulting, and business solutions for banks, insurers, brokerages, and government bodies. In January 2025, it picked up GSC Solutions (formerly Global Specialty Chemicals), a Dammam-based industrial chemicals outfit, giving it a second leg in industrial services. Headcount sits north of 850, with branches in three Saudi regions in addition to footprints in Bahrain and Qatar.