Saudi Arabian institutions dominate Euromoney’s best managed companies in the Middle East survey this year. Jeddah’s NCB Capital is the best research house, and monopolizes individual categories; Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange, is the best exchange; Al Marai has the best treasury; and seven of our sector winners are listed in the country.
Perhaps this should not be a surprise, because Saudi Arabian investment – today and, in particular, for the future – is the subject on everyone’s lips in the region.
Early next year, selected foreign investors will be able to invest directly for the first time into a newly opened Saudi Arabian stock market. It’s a big moment. At the time of writing, the market capitalization of Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange (tellingly, its executives now prefer the latter, more international-sounding description), stood at $590 billion, bigger than Malaysia, Mexico or Moscow.
The Saudi Stock Exchange already constitutes half the Gulf’s total capitalization, dwarfs any neighbour, and accounts for 45% of the entire Mena region.
