This year has seen a resurgence of activity in the Middle East equity capital markets, with players such as National Commercial Bank and Qatar Petroleum in the spotlight and growing interest from both regional and international investors in GCC stock exchanges.

A busy year on the Tadawul –

2014 has proven to be the busiest year in the region’s equity capital markets since the global financial crisis. By far the most active securities exchange has been Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul, which has seen a number of new listings this year, led most recently by the enormous IPO by the National Commercial Bank (Al Ahli) of 25% of its shares. The US$6 billion IPO was the largest ever in Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab world and ranks as the second-largest globally in 2014, beaten only by the world record-breaking IPO of Alibaba in New York.

Originally Published in Islamic Finance News – November 12, 2014.