Saudi utility firm launches over $1 billion IPO

Following Armco, Saudi Arabia-based major utility developer ACWA Power announced an international initial public offering (IPO) plan in September. ACWA’s IPO is expected to raise USD 1.2 billion, the biggest offering in Riyadh since the listing of Aramco.

ACWA is going to sell 11.1%, namely USD 81.2 million of shares, valuing the company at USD 1.1 billion. ACWA is transforming itself for low carbon manufacturing and claimed to double its energy production output over the next five years, with renewables accounting for a majority share.

This year, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia unveiled a campaign to have 50% of electricity generation from renewables. The kingdom also plans to reach 58.7 GW of cumulative renewable energy capacity by 2030 and 27.3 GW by 2024. This signals a turn towards renewables taken by Middle East superpowers, of which exports are dominated by oil. ACWA will help develop 70% of projects in Saudi Arabia. Weather the country can deliver on is energy transformation policy will be heeded around the world.

Silk Road Fund, headquartered in Beijing, acquired 49% of shares from subordinates of ACWA in 2019, unfolding solar energy and PV businesses in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco. AWCA expanded into Uzbekistan in the Central Asia, investing in gas-fired power, solar power, and wind power projects. In the same year, the company won a 100 MW-wind power project in the first wind power tender in Uzbekistan.

ACWA and Badeel each owns a 35% stack in Sudair, the largest PV station in Saudi Arabia. With 1.5 GW of capacity, Sudair is a key project under the Public Investment Fund (PIC) renewable energy programme and the largest centralized PV station in Saudi Arabia. It is reportedly that the project will enter preliminary operation in the second half of 2022.