Saudi Arabia woos Hong Kong institutional investors to its equity market
Saudi Arabia is seeking to emulate China’s model of a gradual opening of market access to international investors
Saudi Arabia is seeking to attract Hong Kong institutional investors to its stock market, the largest in the Middle East, as the country loosens restrictions on foreign direct investment and hopes to join MSCI’s widely-tracked emerging market index.
“The opening up of Saudi markets has attracted a lot of interest and we were surprised by the enthusiasm from Hong Kong investors,” Mohammed El-Kuwaiz, vice chairman of Capital Market Authority (CMA), which oversees the kingdom’s stock market, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
El-Kuwaiz, along with other senior government officials and executives from Saudi companies, held a roadshow in Hong Kong on Friday to meet with Asian institutional investors and discuss the Saudi equity market.
“The turnout is the highest in Hong Kong compared with other international cities, as we held a series of meetings with investors around the world,” he added.
“We’ve received a tremendous amount of interest from foreign investors, particularly Hong Kong-based and Asia-based asset management firms.”
Friday’s roadshow followed a similar event in Singapore earlier this week and two others in New York and London in October and November respectively.