Saudi builder Arabian Dyar looks toward Mecca as it considers IPO

Arabian Dyar has its sights firmly planted on Mecca as the Saudi real estate developer plots a growth strategy intended to culminate in an IPO.

The Jeddah-based builder, led by three brothers from Jeddah’s wealthy Alatawi family, already conducts half of its business in the holy city, busily erecting thousands of apartments in proximity to the Grand Mosque that is the ultimate destination for the 1.6 million Muslims who perform the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage each year.

Those pilgrims and about 16 million people from Saudi Arabia and abroad who visit other religious sites in the kingdom are the company’s target customers amid expectations of a deeper construction boom in Mecca, Arabian Dyar Vice President Anis Alhabshi told The Circuit. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 national economic plan calls for increasing that number to 30 million over the next five years.

“What’s special about this is for people to have that spiritual meaning,” Alhabshi said on Thursday in an interview on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh. “They want to be there and detox and be close to God and pray at the holy mosque right there,” he said, suggesting many would buy apartments as a second home or timeshare.

Alhabshi, a 62-year-old Singaporean who previously worked for Emaar Properties, a larger competitor led by Dubai’s Mohamed Alabbar, said riding the wave of anticipated demand in Mecca, as well as in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Red Sea city of Yanbu, should propel the company toward an initial share sale in the next two to three years.

“We are hungry, and we see immense potential in the kingdom, so we want to consider an IPO,” Alhabshi said. “If we remain private, our shareholding structure and our financial structure will be limited.”

Arabian Dyar has emerged as one of the more ambitious mid-tier real estate developers in Saudi Arabia, positioning itself to capitalize on the iingdom’s sweeping urban transformation and the investment backdrop of Vision 2030. Established in 2011, the company operates across the kingdom, focusing on master-planned residential communities, hospitality assets and, increasingly, industrial platforms.

A recent partnership with Google to invest up to $100 million in AI and data-driven development systems is positioning the group as a digital-minded operator in a sector traditionally slow to modernize.

Arabian Dyar operates in a competitive field dominated by established state-owned companies backed by the kingdom’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund that have become global contractors. Benchmark peers include Emaar, Saudi Binladin Group, Nesma & Partners and Al Mabani – firms that are bigger and have longstanding government relationships.

While Arabian Dyar remains smaller than its most prominent rivals, it is increasingly carving out space through targeted investment, institutional partnerships and a narrative centered on technology, quality and community-led urbanism.

That’s the direction that Alhabshi says has kept his bosses – Chairman Muammar Alatawi, Vice Chairman Ahmed Alatawi and CEO Naif Alatawi – content to tailor Arabian Dyar’s expansion strategy to the domestic market in the near and medium-term.

Later, fueled by shareholders if the IPO takes off, plans could change.

“There’s enough business to be made,” he said. “We don’t need to leave Saudi Arabia for the next 10 years.”