Middle East’s Top Broadcaster Jumps 10% as PIF Buys Stake

Fahad Abuljadayel
1 min read

(Bloomberg) -- The Middle East’s biggest broadcaster surged 10% in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund agreed to buy a majority stake in the company from the government for about $2 billion.

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The PIF, as the fund is known, is set to acquire 54% of MBC Group from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance, represented by Istedamah Holding Company, according to a statement on Sunday.

The finance ministry will transfer the entirety of its stake to the PIF at Thursday’s closing share price of 41.60 riyals ($11) per share, subject to certain approvals and non-objections that may be required from relevant entities.

MBC jumped the most since January to close at 45.75 riyals following the announcement.

The move follows a flurry of activity for MBC, which started trading earlier this year in Riyadh after a $222 million listing. In October, the broadcaster sold a stake in advertising subsidiary Arabian Contracting Services and paid off a loan of almost 500 million riyals to Istedamah Holding.

The deal also marks another occasion of government assets moving to Saudi Arabia’s $930 billion sovereign wealth fund. The PIF received a further 8% stake in oil giant Saudi Aramco from the government in March and is seeking to acquire some or all of the finance ministry’s 36% holding in local construction conglomerate Saudi Binladin Group, Bloomberg has reported.

The PIF is responsible for driving many of Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification projects under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda.

Shares of MBC have climbed 83% since their trading debut in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 8.

--With assistance from Omar Tamo.

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