Saudi Telecommunications Company has decided to increase the company’s capital by 150 percent.
This would be achieved by granting bonus shares by capitalizing SAR 30 billion ($7.9 billion) from retained earnings, bringing the company’s capital from SAR 20 billion (2 billion shares) to SAR 50 billion (5 billion shares).
Shareholders will be granted 1.5 shares for every share at the time of maturity.
Prince Mohammad bin Khalid Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said the capital increase is the largest in the history of Saudi market.
“This increase will undoubtedly lead to enhancing the liquidity in the company’s shares and make them more accessible to wider group of investors,” he said.
The company said the capital increase supports the implementation of its growth strategy through a series of innovative initiatives and projects, as the group began this year by launching multiple investments and partnerships in new sectors.
During the Leap Technology Conference this year, the company announced it is launching an initiative to establish a major digital center “MENA Hub” for the Middle East and North Africa with an investment of more than $1 billion in order to maximize the utilization of the huge infrastructure owned by the company in the region, including the data centers and international submarine cables.
The investment will also help to take advantage of the Kingdom’s strategic geographical location, connecting the three continents digitally.
The capital increase is in line with the company’s vision to become the leading company in the field of communications and information technology and to lead the digital transformation locally and regionally by providing innovative digital services, products and solutions, stc said.