formed technology company Wadi Al-Riyadh will have SR100 million as start-up capital, it was announced Tuesday by Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al-Othman, President of King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh. The company is one of three that is being set up on the recommendation of the Permanent Committee of the Supreme Economic Council. The Cabinet approved licenses for two other companies Wadi Jeddah and Wadi Al-Dhahran, as joint stock enterprises at its weekly meeting Monday. The companies are permitted to invest in the transfer and development of technology, train university students for the private sector, find jobs for students, and try to attract local and foreign investment. Al-Othman said the company's SR100 million capital is divided into 10 million shares with each share priced at SR10. He said KSU has so far deposited SR50 million into a Saudi bank. The money will be administrated by the company's board of directors when it is up and running. He said the company's rules will allow for the university to increase its stake, to cover the total value of the initial capital, by using the assets of the university. If approval is granted by the authorities, further capital can be raised through an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Article 10 of the company's basic regulations allows the university to sell some of its shares to one or more investors on condition the investor is a government agency. Also, Article 3 of the regulations stipulates that the company's board of directors consist of seven members and is chaired by the university's president for a period of three years. Article 29 authorizes the board of directors to appoint the company's executive president, who will carry out the board's decisions and oversee its daily affairs.
