All the UAE’s IPOs in 2024

Private companies are expected to come to the market in the UAE in 2024, alongside the government’s ‘privatisation’ programme“.

Maybe the difference between 2023 and 2024 is that in 2024 we expect to see more private companies come to market, including in the United Arab Emirates,” Christian Cabanne, Bank of America Corp’s head of equity capital markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told Bloomberg.

A company may need to adjust its DEI policies and practices to meet regulations when preparing for an IPO.

For instance, each new company floating on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) or Dubai Financial Market (DFM) must meet the 2021 quota for one woman per listed company board, set by the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (UAE SCA) in 2021.

IPO activity in the Gulf boomed in 2022, raising nearly $22 billion – more than half the total for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

It slowed in 2023, but GCC countries still saw 46 IPOs with total proceeds worth $10.79 billion, with the UAE raking in $6.07 billion from eight IPOs, according to Kamco Invest.

The Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) can expect up to four further listings of private companies by the end of 2024, according to Bassel Khawaja, advisory head of the Abu Dhabi IPO Fund.

He said the companies were in the technology, foreign exchange and remittance and hospitality sectors.

The future pipeline includes companies in real estate and the industrial sector.

Khawaja said he expected the government’s “privatisation programme” to continue, followed by a push from the private sector to list on ADX.

[Find out more – NOORA, Aurora50’s network for corporate women | The Inclusion Summit, where hundreds of DEI change-makers meet in UAE]

[Related: UAE IPOs 2023 | UAE IPOs 2022]

1. ADC/ UPP?
2. Advanced Inhalation Rituals
3. Dubai Parking?
4. LuLu Group
5. Spinneys Dubai

Key

• 📈 Under $1 billion raised
• 📈📈 Over $1 billion raised
• 📈📈📈 Over $2 billion raised

ADC Acquisition Corporation – the first so-called ‘blank-cheque’ company to list in the Middle East – signed a deal with United Printing & Publishing (UPP), an Abu Dhabi state investment fund business, in September 2023.

According to a statement, UPP will now merge with ADC, and the combined entity will become a publicly listed company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) raise money through an initial public offering and then use the proceeds to acquire other companies.

ADC Acquisition Corporation is the UAE’s first SPAC, chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of the UAE president.

ADC Acquisition Corp itself raised $100 million in an IPO listing on Abu Dhabi’s bourse in 2022.

ADX in 2022 became the first Gulf bourse to introduce rules permitting the listing of SPACs.

[Read full story about ADC & UPP on AGBI]

Advanced Inhalation Rituals, the owner of shisha brand Al Fakher, chose banks to work on its IPO last year.

The IPO in the UAE is expected to raise $800 million this year, according to Bloomberg.

[Read full story about Advanced Inhalation Rituals on Bloomberg (subscriber)]

The listing of Dubai Parking is “likely” to follow that of Dubai Taxi in 2023, according to Bloomberg.

[Full story about Dubai Taxi on AGBI]

LuLu supermarket group plans to list on ADX in the first half of 2024.

LuLu, one of the largest supermarket chains in the Gulf, is founded by Indian-born businessman Yusuff Ali.

It operates 254 hypermarkets and shopping malls in 10 countries including India, Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The company aims to start 80 more hypermarkets in GCC and other countries in the next two years.

LuLu originally planned its IPO for 2023.

[Full story about Lulu Group on The National]

Spinneys Dubai – the franchisee of the supermarket chain in the UAE and Oman – is planning an IPO on DFM in Q2 2024.

Albwardy Investment, a full owner of Spinneys, is expected to offer up to 30 percent of the franchisee.

Spinneys Dubai operates more than 65 stores across the UAE, and operates at least seven stores in Oman.

Albwardy, which says it has annual turnover above $1 billion, also owns the franchise rights to British supermarket chain Waitrose.

Founded in the mid-1970s, it has a hospitality portfolio that includes several Four Seasons hotels and food distribution investments that include Nestle UAE.

Other sectors in Albwardy’s portfolio are industrial and engineering, commercial and insurance, agribusiness and properties.

[Full story about Spinneys Dubai on Reuters]

[Find out more – NOORA, Aurora50’s network for corporate women | The Inclusion Summit, where hundreds of DEI change-makers meet in UAE]

[Related: UAE IPOs 2023 | UAE IPOs 2022]