DUBAI- Saudi Arabia's capital markets regulator has approved an initial public offering of Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, one of the Middle East's biggest hospital operators, it said on Monday.

The regulator has relaxed the traditional initial public offering (IPO) requirement to list at least 30% of a company in order to encourage more family-owned companies to list, part of a bid to deepen its capital markets.

The company plans to offer 52.5 million shares, representing 15% of its share capital, the statement from the Capital Markets Authority said.

The group, which operates hospitals and clinics in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, has been in talks with foreign and local banks for listing and potential advisory roles, Reuters reported in July. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N24V1OG

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh. Writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Jan Harvey) ((Nafisa.Eltahir@thomsonreuters.com; +20 109 4966 335;))