National Education to launch retail offering on Monday

The National Company for Learning & Education (NCLE) will begin its share offering for retail investors on Monday, Oct. 22, said Al Dukheil Financial Group, the financial advisor and lead manager of the company’s initial public offering (IPO).

The offering will run for seven days until Oct. 28.

Up to 10 percent of the offering size (1.30 million shares) will be allocated to retail investors including Saudi and GCC individual investors.

Al Dukheil added that the share offering for institutional investors was 155 percent oversubscribed.

The Riyadh-based school operator offered 100 percent (13 million shares) of total offering size to institutional investors as well as investment funds, subject to a scaleback to 90 percent (11.70 million shares).

The company, established in 1958, converted into a closed joint stock company in 2002. NCLE’s expansions began in 2009 by establishing Tarbya Namouthajiya Schools in Al-Rawabi district. The company continued to boost its capacity to accommodate over 17,000 students with an occupancy rate of 77 percent in 2017. NCLE will be the first Tadawul-listed education company.