The Capital Market Authority’s annual report (pdf) shows that net proceeds from all offerings on the exchange dropped 71% y-o-y 2023, including both equity and debt.

Other areas of the capital market saw notable growth: The fund management sector ended the year with more investment funds on offer, more investors in the market, and more assets under management.

We also saw more foreigners in the market and more fintech companies getting approvals to launch.

Here’s what you need to know:

Robo-advisors saw their AUM skyrocket more than 350% last year, finishing the year with AUM of SAR 1.4 bn.

Saudi VCs were probably the only ones globally to do well last year: AUM controlled by venture capital funds rose 72% year-on-year to SAR 2.5 bn at the end of December 2023.

More people are in the market: The number of investors in public and private funds rose 73% y-o-y to 1.2 mn, reflecting the growing role of investment funds in enhancing savings and investments.

New financial finance industry players: Some 163 companies were registered with the CMA as financial institutions at the end of 2023, up from 139 the year before.

Total proceeds from share offerings (public, private, and rights issues) declined to SAR 19.8 bn in 2023 from SAR 67.4 bn in 2022 (pdf) as 43 offerings went to market between the main market and Nomu, down from 49 the year before. IPOs accounted for 36 of the 43 offerings with SAR 12.3 bn worth of shares offered — including shares of 29 companies in the parallel market Nomu.

The total value of debt instruments — including sukuk — issued on the capital market rose 13.2% y-o-y to SAR 549.8 bn by the end of 2023 (this figure represents the cumulative value for 2023 and the previous years). Debt offerings raised a total of SAR 29.95 bn in 2023 — down from SAR 44 bn in 2022.

Foreign investment rose 7.7% y-o-y to SAR 198 bn in 2023 (this is a cumulative figure of 2023 and the previous years), with value of foreign ownership in the local capital market climbing to SAR 401 bn by the end of 2023 (up from SAR 347 bn by the end of 2022), representing 12.9% of Tadawul’s free float at the end of 2023.

The authority approved the launch of 29 investment funds last year, bringing the total to 1.3k funds with SAR 871.3 bn in AUM, up from 939 in 2022 with SAR 743.4 bn in AUM. Equity and endowments funds accounting for the lion’s share at 9 each.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *