MMC Corp Bhd has appointed Saudi Investment Bank as adviser for the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of the joint venture company which is developing the US$30 billion (US$1=RM3.28) Jazan Economic City in Saudi Arabia.

"We are working towards it (the exercise). I can't tell you exactly when it is going to happen," group chief executive, Feizal Ali, told reporters after the company's extraordinary general meeting here today.

MMC Corp, which is controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, holds 50 percent in the joint venture company with Saudi Binladin Group hold the remaining stake.

He said the group planned to list the developer on the Saudi Stock Exchange to fund the development of the 30-year economic city project.

On its plan to sell 30 percent of stake of the project to the public to finance the city's development, he said: "We haven't fixed that yet. It is still being worked on right now."

On talk that Saudi Binladin may tie up with the group for the US$3 billion steel downstream project in Sarawak, he said the group was looking at the opportunities in other parts of the world "but haven't done anything yet".