Dar Al Balad is going ahead with Tadawul listing

Dar Al Balad is about to become the Gulf’s first IPO since the war started. The IT services outfit is pushing ahead with plans to float a 30% stake on Tadawul’s main market, making it the first company in the region to launch a share sale since the US-Iran war broke out. The offering is reportedly expected to raise up to USD 75 mn, unnamed sources told Bloomberg.

The details: Selling shareholder Dar Al Balad Commercial Company is offloading 21 mn shares — a flat 30% of the company — at a price to be determined via book-building, according to the prospectus released yesterday. As a secondary offering, the entirety of the proceeds will go to the seller.

Participating parties get first dibs on all 21 mn shares, but retail investors can claim up to 30% (6.3 mn shares) if demand shows up. The minimum retail ticket is 10 shares, while the maximum is 100k. The controlling shareholder is locked up for six months post-listing.

The timeline:

Institutional book-building: 26-30 April;
Retail subscription: 10-14 May;
Final allocation: 18 May;
Refunds (if any): by 21 May;
Listing on Tadawul: shortly after, pending the usual regulatory box-ticking.

Who is Dar Al Balad anyway? 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.

The numbers look healthy: Revenue came in at SAR 315 mn (about USD 84 mn) in 2025, up 30% y-o-y. Net income was up 28% to SAR 51 mn. Two years of double-digit growth isn’t bad for a company trying to attract investors during a regional conflict.

About that conflict: Saudi stocks have held up better than you would expect since the fighting started in late February. Higher oil prices have propped up the heavyweights — Aramco chief among them — even as repeated strikes on energy infrastructure have dragged on production and exports. Things calmed down somewhat after the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire earlier this month, though markets have given back some of those gains as doubts over the peace talks creep back in.

The prospectus doesn’t sugarcoat it. The risk factors section flags that the company’s offices sit “near neighboring countries” where operations could be disrupted and points to the possibility that regional diplomatic or economic fallout could weigh on the Saudi economy, foreign direct investment, and ultimately the company’s own prospects.

Why Dar Al Balad is going public now: It probably has to. The company got CMA approval back in December, and that approval lapses in June if the listing doesn’t happen. Bloomberg reports that a Saudi contractor and a real estate developer are in the same boat, racing to list before their own approvals expire.

What to watch: Pricing is expected after book-building closes on 30 April. Whether the book-building clears at a decent valuation will tell us a lot about institutional appetite right now. Two smaller regional names listed since the war started made a splash, with Kuwait's Trolley General Trading up 42% and Saudi miner Saleh Abdulaziz Al Rashed up 30%.

ADVISORS- AlJazira Capital is running the transaction as financial advisor, lead manager, and underwriter, with Emirates NBD acting as joint bookrunner. Baker McKenzie is counsel.

ALSO- The pipeline keeps moving: The CMA also greenlit bottled water player Berain to offer 66 mn shares — a 30% stake — on Tadawul's main market. The company is owned by Rajhi Invest — with a 40% stake held by GOSI's investment arm Hassana since March 2025 — and runs three plants in Riyadh and Jeddah plus 24 retail outlets.

A Berain listing would make it the second bottled water name on TASI after Naqi, while Nomu already hosts Jouf Water and Sama.