The Syrian market regulator Thursday called on investors to participate at the 1.75 billion Syrian pounds ($38 million) initial public offering of Albaraka Bank Syria that will run from Sunday. The IPO will represent 35 percent of the bank's capital which will total SYP5 billion after the share sale, the remaining 65 percent have already been fully-subscribed by the founders that include Bahrain's Shariah-compliant Albaraka Banking Group, Emirates Islamic Bank, and the KuwaitSyrian Holding Co., in addition to Syrian, Jordanian and Saudi individual investors. The bank will offer for sale 3.5 million shares at the par value of SYP500 per share, according to the IPO's prospectus published on the Web site of the Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities. The IPO targets Syrian individual and institutional investors. The maximum subscription for individual investors is set at 500,000 shares or 5 percent of the bank's capital and for institutional investors at 1.1 million shares or 11 percent of the capital. Minimum subscription is set at 100 shares or SYP50,000, said the prospectus. The IPO's lead manager will be Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi which will also be among the receiving banks that will include Arab Bank Syria, Syria International Islamic Bank, and Commercial Bank of Syria.
