(Bloomberg) -- The Riyadh initial public offering of generic drugmaker Jamjoom Pharmaceuticals Factory Co. will raise 1.26 billion riyals ($336 million) after shares were priced at the top of a marketed range, ending a drought in listings in Saudi Arabia.

The owners of Jamjoom Pharma are selling 21 million shares in the IPO. They priced them at 60 riyals each, the top of a range that started at 56 riyals, according to a statement on May 25. Jamjoom Pharma will take orders from retail investors from May 30 to June 1, while a listing date will be determined later.

Jamjoom Pharma’s IPO is set to be the largest in the kingdom since Saudi Aramco Base Oil Co.’s $1.3 billion listing in December and is serving as a gauge of investor appetite as the IPO market in Saudi Arabia slowly comes back to life.

Before Jamjoom, just $72 million had been raised through Saudi IPOs in the slowest start since 2014, data compiled by Bloomberg show, a fraction of the almost $4 billion seen this time last year. Potential Saudi issuers have been cautious in 2023 after a rush of listings last year, with some of those underperforming on their first day of trading. 

Jamjoom Pharma secured two cornerstone investors for its IPO, a rare feature in the Saudi market, who agreed to subscribe for almost a quarter of the offering. Such investors can help shore up support for a deal in volatile markets by signaling strong backing and also remove some of the risk of executing an IPO because there are fewer shares to sell to the open market.

Strong Demand

The oversubscription rate was 67.2 times, or 88.8 times excluding the shares that were allocated to cornerstone investors, showing strong demand for what is set to be the biggest IPO in the kingdom so far this year.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index had been on a mostly downward trend following a peak hit in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year as oil prices came down, hurting investor sentiment. However it has rebounded about 12% from a low in mid-March after OPEC+ announced a surprise oil production cut.

Aside from Jamjoom Pharma, a number of other companies have also launched IPOs recently, including flour miller First Milling Co. and non-bank lender Morabaha Marina Financing.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Saudi Fransi Capital are financial advisers, bookrunners and underwriters for Jamjoom Pharma while Al Rajhi Capital is also an underwriter.

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