Saudi travel firm Al-Tayyar plans 30% IPO

Saudi Arabia's Al-Tayyar Travel Group has received approval to sell a 30 percent stake to the public, the bourse regulator said on Sunday, two years after the firm scrapped a similar sale due to a lack of demand.

The Capital Market Authority approved the initial public offering of 24 million shares, it said in a statement on the bourse website.

The 30 percent IPO, a portion of which will be allocated to institutional investors, will be open May 14-20 once a book-building process is completed, the statement said.

The group's president, Nasser Al-Tayyar, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

In 2009, the company said it planned to raise SR1.2bn ($320m) from an IPO. This was slated to launch in April 2010, but was cancelled due to a lack of demand.

Al-Tayyar Group started as a family business in 1979.