Kuwait’s CMA to Start Stake Sale of Bourse to Local Investors

(Bloomberg) -- The Kuwait Capital Market Authority will start next month a public offering of its 50% stake in the local stock exchange.

Only Kuwaiti citizens will be eligible to buy the shares, according to a press release on Sunday. The subscription period will run from Oct. 1 to Dec. 1, with the offering price set at 100 fils per share, or one-tenth of a dinar.

The offering is the second and final stage of a privatization process that started in February, when the markets regulator sold 44% of the company to a consortium of domestic and international investors.

• Boursa Kuwait will be the second in the Gulf to be publicly traded after Dubai’s.
• The consortium that bought the stake earlier this year comprised the Athens Stock Exchange, National Investments Company, First Investment Company and Arzan Financial Group.
• After the offering is completed, Kuwait’s Public Institution for Social Security will retain the remaining 6% in the company.
• Kuwait’s main equity index is up about 24% this year, the most within major peers in the region, amid bets of an upgrade from frontier to major emerging-markets gauges.

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