(Bloomberg) --

The shares of Saudi Arabian utility Marafiq, which raised $897 million in an initial public offering that drew $53 billion in orders, gave up almost all their gains after surging at its trading debut.

After climbing 14% at open to 52.4 riyals, the shares briefly dropped below the IPO price of 46 riyals. They recovered to trade at 47.75 riyals at 10:39am in Riyadh. The benchmark Tadawul index fell 1.5%.

Power and Water Utility Co. for Jubail and Yanbu, as the company is formally known, priced the IPO at the top end of its marketed range of 46 riyals. The sellers -- Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund Public Investment Fund, Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Aramco and Sabic -- had offered 73.1 million shares at 41 riyals to 46 riyals apiece.

IPOs in the Persian Gulf have been on a tear this year, fetching $18.5 billion -- almost half of the proceeds seen in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The region is headed for its second-best year on record in terms of money raised from share sales, eclipsed only by 2019 when Aramco pulled of its record $29.4 billion listing. 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. said the IPO frenzy would extend into the next year. That is in sharp contrast to major European markets, which have seen a slowdown in IPOs this year because of rising inflation and falling stocks. 

HSBC Holdings Plc and Riyad Capital managed Marafiq’s IPO.

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