Savola Group, the largest food products company in Saudi Arabia, is set to go ahead with plans to reduce its capital and distribute its entire stake in dairy maker Almarai to eligible shareholders.

The company's shareholders are slated to approve the board of directors' proposals during their Extraordinary General Assembly meeting on December 12.

Savola Group intends to reduce its capital by 73.54% from SAR 11.3 billion to SAR 3 billion and compensate its eligible shareholders by distributing its 34.52% stake in Almarai, the region's biggest dairy company.

The stake consists of approximately 345.3 million ordinary shares and is worth more than SAR 8.3 billion.

The capital reduction and in-kind share distribution are parts of a three-stage process the company had planned to optimise its capital structure, as it looks to strengthen its finances while investing in the growth of its portfolio and paying down debt. 

The first part was the launch of a SAR 6 billion rights issue in August.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com