Opening bourse wider, Saudi to let foreigners take strategic stakes in firms

The Capital Market Authority said it was working with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, the state investment agency, to prepare rules under which foreign investors with appropriate experience and expertise could own such stakes.

Current regulations forbid a single foreign investor from owning 10 percent or more of the shares of a listed Saudi company.

Strategic investors in Saudi companies will retain voting rights attached to their shares, the CMA said. Foreign investment in some parts of the economy will remain restricted or prohibited, it added without elaborating.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Dale Hudson)