Top Saudi Arabian companies take center stage at London Stock Exchange

London-based institutional investors, emerging market funds, analysts as well as members of the media have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with C-suite executives from some of the most interesting companies in Saudi Arabia, a market into which investors can now buy directly for the first time through swap agreements and participation notes introduced late last year.

"There are some very attractively price opportunities in the Saudi market right now. Now that foreign investors can buy in through swap contracts, this is the perfect forum in which to start getting acquainted with top management at some of the Kingdom's most compelling companies."

says Yasser El-Mallawany, Chief Executive Officer of EFG-Hermes, the leading Arab investment bank and organizer of the Saudi Arabia Capital Markets Day.

This is the third in a series of events organized by EFG-Hermes in partnership with the LSE. Previous capital markets days have focused on Egypt as well as the Middle East and North African banking and financial services sector.

Companies presenting at the LSE this week include Al-Marai Co., Saudi Cable Company, Saudi Arabia Mining Company (Ma'aden), Saudi Telecom, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate and Red Sea Housing Services.

"Events such as this play an important role in matching the entrepreneurs and innovators of the rapidly growing private sector in the Kingdom with the global investment community," said London Stock Exchange Chairman Chris Gibson-Smith.

"The diversity of the companies represented here today is testament to the breadth and depth of the modern Saudi economy, which has more than doubled in size in a decade."

"The Capital Markets Day for Saudi Arabia is a strong opportunity for participating companies to present their 2009 strategies to global investors," says Dr. Abdulrahman A. Al-Tuwaiiri, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Saudi Capital Market Authority. "London-based as well as international investors have the chance to see why the Saudi market has so much investment potential relative to other markets around the world."

In addition to the LSE events, EFG-Hermes also hosts its flagship annual EFG-Hermes One-on-One in Sharm El-Sheikh, at which MENA companies present to top global investors; a MENA Trip covering dozens of companies across the region in just seven days; and regular field visits to companies across the Arab world.