Bupa Arabia, Saudi-based healthcare specialist insurer, has launched its SR160 million ($43 million) initial public offering (IPO) for Saudi nationals.

The offering of 16 million shares, which represents 40 percent of the company’s share capital after the IPO, will close on March 18.

The share price has been fixed at SR10 and the minimum subscription is 50 shares, while the maximum is 100,000 shares.

Talking to mediapersons in Riyadh, Bupa Arabia chairman Loay Nazer said the company plans to use the funds to improve its systems such as operational, risk management and customer service. 

'In this way we will be able to provide the state-of-the-art services besides boosting our online services, advanced call centres and SMS facilities to the our 1.5 million customers in the near future,' he added.

“We hope that using the funds raised in this way will help us to increase our market share to 20 per cent. We anticipate this growth because of increased awareness of insurance generally in the last few years and the full implementation of the health insurance regulation, which calls for compulsory health insurance for all expatriate workers,' he added.

According to Nazer, the insurance market would more than double to SR 15 billion over the next five years. In 2007, it was SR6.8 billion.

“We have been active in the Kingdom for 10 years so we are intimately aware of the healthcare issues related to the region. We try to make sure we provide information not just about our products and services, but about lifestyle in general to help people understand how to stay fit and healthy to live longer and more rewarding lives,” he added.

The allocation to retail subscribers will be performed in two stages. In the first stage, each subscriber will receive a minimum of 50 shares.

'During the second stage, and in the event there is a sufficient demand by retail subscribers, each subscriber for 50 shares or less will receive the full allocation of what he applied for, provided that total shares allocated do not exceed total shares offered to retail subscribers (16,000,000 shares). The balance of the offer shares (if available) will be allocated on a pro-rata basis,' Nazer explained. 

He said the shares could be bought online, through phone banking, ATMs and from branches of any of the five receiving banks – SABB, Riyadh Bank, NCB, Arab National Bank and Samba.-TradeArabia News Service