Saudi Arabia approves dual listing of Pizza Hut, KFC franchisee

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s market regulator said on Monday it had approved a concurrent and dual listing of Americana Group, the Middle East and North Africa franchisee of fast-food chains KFC and Pizza Hut, in the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Americana has approval to sell 30% of its shares, which will be the first to trade in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The Capital Market Authority said the approval was for a dual registration in the two countries and an offering of 2.53 billion shares.

Americana is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and an investment consortium led by Dubai businessman Mohammed Alabbar, founder of Dubai-listed Emaar Properties.

($1 = 3.7568 riyals)

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by Mark Potter)