Changed beyond recognition

摘要

The big news in 2005 from Che dairy industry in the Middle East is the highly successful offer of shares in leading Saudi recombining dairy Sadafco to the GCC public. The GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) comprises six countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, with a combined population in excess of 32 million people and a population growth rate of above three per cent per annum. By all accounts Sadafco's Initial Public Offer (IPO) was oversubscribed nearly three times. This is the first major IPO within the dairy sector and bodes well for further developments. Of course Sadafco had prepared well for its IPO, preceding it with a major drive for growth and performance improvement over several years. Sadafco is a very large UHT milk and tomato paste processor based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.