Madina Knowledge Economic City starts a 7-day initial public offering today (Monday) to raise SR1.02 billion ($272 million). The IPO, which will offer 30 percent of the company through issuing 102 million shares at SR10 each, will help raise the firm's capital to SR3.4 billion. “The location of the city within Madina will be different from the other economic cities,” said Eng. Tahir Bawazir, CEO of KEC. An investor is required to buy a minimum of 50 shares. The offering will last until Sunday. The KEC project as a whole - which covers 4.8 million square meters of land – is to be accomplished in 15 years, each phase having five years to develop. It will focus on intellectual property, knowledge-based industries, medical, hospitality, tourism and multi-media. Within five months, the Marketing and Sales Center in KEC site will be ready. As planned, KEC will create more than 20,000 jobs and provide accommodation for about 150,000 people.
