Dubai – Mubasher: The value of Saudi Arabian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market surged to $72.6 billion during the first six months of 2019.

The boom in the kingdom’s M&A market was based on a mega acquisition conducted by Saudi Aramco, according to a report released on Tuesday by Mergermarket.

In March, Saudi Aramco announced the closure of a SAR 259.125 billion ($69.1 billion) deal for the acquisition of a 70% stake in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

“The behemoth majority acquisition of Sabic by Saudi Aramco, a shift away from upstream oil and gas, is indicative of how the kingdom’s economic and social reforms have filtered through to the deal-making and investment landscape,” head of energy and natural resources at Mergermarket, Patrick Harris, said.

In the first half of 2019, the Saudi Arabian initial public offering (IPO) market soared, following the closure of $752 million deals. The IPOs included the offering of Arabian Centres, Maharah Human Resources, and Ataa Educational.

“Foreign interest in Saudi projects has grown sharply, as the Kingdom seeks to finance ambitious infrastructure and privatisation programmes…There are over 100 initiatives, across 12 sectors, planned under the Vision 2030 programme. Six deals have already closed for $3.5 billion,” Project Lead at Acuris, Chris Haffenden, commented.

Mergermarket hosted the 2019 edition of its Saudi Arabian M&A and Capital Markets Forum in Dubai on 9 September 2019.