The story
Background
Etihad Atheeb Telecom was established in 2008 as a Saudi joint stock company, the company's major shareholders are Atheeb Trading Company (16.1%), Batelco (15.0%), Al-Nahla Trading Company (13.7%), and Traco Trading Ltd Co. (5.8%).
Other founding shareholders include Saudi Internet Ltd Co., Atheeb Ltd. Co. for Computer and Communication, and Atheeb Maintenance and Service.
Management team
On June 13, 2010, Etihad Atheeb Telecom board of directors announced the appointment of Raed Kayyal as acting chief executive officer on to replace former chief executive officer Ahmed Abbas Sindi.
Founding and IPO
Etihad Atheeb Telecom was one of ten applicants to bid for a public fixed services license on March 10, 2007, The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) approved the list of eligible applicants for fixed services licenses on April 15, 2007, which included Etihad Atheeb Telecom and two other operators. Following the license announcement, Etihad Atheeb Telecom acquired a 3.5 GHz frequency spectrum covering thirteen regional divisions across Saudi Arabia valued at over 500 million riyals (US$138 million).
On February 25, 2008, the Council of Ministers approved the establishment of Etihad Atheeb Telecom as a Saudi joint stock company with an authorized capital of 1 billion riyals (US$266 million). As a condition of the approval, Etihad Atheeb Telecom would offer at least 25% of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO).
In January 2009, Etihad Atheeb Telecom announced an IPO of 30% of the company's shares with a total value of 300 million riyals, at a price of 10 riyals per share. Etihad Atheeb Telecom IPO marked the first IPO in Saudi Arabia since all new offerings had been halted in August 2008 in the midst of unfavorable market conditions as a result of the global economic crisis.
The announcement was made by Prince Abdul Aziz bin Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz where he stated:
With the launch of the new IPO, A new chapter begins in the history of telecommunications in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the introduction of new fixed lines would pave the way for the kingdom’s economy to shift to a new knowledge based economy. Etihad Atheeb Telecom is a Saudi joint stock company operation in the Saudi market with a strong financial solvency and targeting local beneficiaries, our policy is in line with recommendations of the First Arab Economic summit, which call for the liberalization of the telecom sector, and the private sector’s engagement in the development process.
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The IPO closed successfully on February 2, 2009, with coverage in excess to (350%), the company's IPO had been significantly oversubscribed, and analysts interpreted the oversubscription as a positive indicator of confidence in the IPO market of Saudi Arabia.
From Wikipedia’s article on Etihad Atheeb Telecom, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3