DUBAI - Saudi Arabian grocery retailer BinDawood Holding Co on Monday announced its intention to list on the Saudi bourse, with plans to sell existing shares and have a free float of 20%.

The company has 73 stores including 51 hypermarkets and 22 supermarkets, making it the third-largest operator of hypermarkets and supermarkets in Saudi Arabia by revenue in 2019, it said.

BinDawood Holding, which controls supermarket chains BinDawood and Danube in the kingdom, this year postponed its planned IPO in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Saudi Arabia is encouraging more family-owned companies to list in a bid to deepen its capital markets under a reform push aimed at cutting the kingdom’s reliance on oil.

A slew of companies have listed this year including healthcare firm Suleiman Al Habib and real estate financing firm Amlak International.

"Given the positive direction of the Saudi grocery retail sector, we believe our IPO will give new investors a solid platform for future capital growth," said BinDawood Holding CEO Ahmad Abdulrazzaq BinDawood in a statement.

He said the company has zero debt and strong cash flow, and has no intention to raise debt for now.

It is looking to attract cornerstone investors who will benefit from such an offering, he said.

The company has been able to overcome the impact from the tripling of value added tax to 15%, which took effect on July 1, by increasing its market share in the kingdom, he said.

The company also took measures to reduce the impact, and consumer demand remained strong as people did not travel on holiday during the summer this year because of the pandemic, he said.

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are joint financial advisers and bookrunners on the deal.

Other bookrunners are NCB Capital and GIB Capital.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Hadeel Al Sayegh; editing by Jason Neely) ((Saeed.Azhar@thomsonreuters.com; +971 44536787; Reuters Messaging: saeed.azhar.reuters.com@reuters.net))