The UAE’s 2022 IPO mega-listings 📈

We’ve had some huge initial public offerings (IPOs) happening this year in the UAE, from AD Ports Group to Borouge to Salik to DEWA.

IPOs in the Middle East outpaced Europe this year, for only the second time since the global financial crisis of 2009.

Each new company floating on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) or Dubai Financial Market (DFM) will start life already meeting the 2021 quota for one woman per listed company board, set by the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority in 2021.

So every new company listed brings one more woman to a UAE board – making news of IPOs a good place to look for board seats.

Middle East IPOs raised $18 billion this year, the highest share for the region since 2019, when Saudi Aramco floated in the world’s largest ever IPO at $29 billion.

In the first six months of this year there were 24 IPOs, with the UAE the biggest market in aggregate value of deals and Saudi Arabia the biggest in volume with six IPOs, EY data showed.

All the IPOs announced in the UAE in 2022:

1. AD Ports Group
2. Americana
3. Bayanat
4. Borouge
5. Burjeel Holdings
6. DEWA
7. Empower
8. Salik
9. Taleem
10. Tecom
11. Union Coop
12. 2023 IPOs planned

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

AD Ports Group, operator of industrial cities and free zones in the emirate, raised $1.1 billion in February when it listed on ADX.

It operates 10 ports in the UAE, a terminal in Guinea and several logistics and industrial zones.

Americana Group, the operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa, raised $1.8 billion from a dual listing on Riyadh’s Tadawul and Abu Dhabi’s ADX in November.

Americana, founded in Kuwait in 1964, is Saudi Arabia’s largest IPO this year and the first company to be dually listed in the kingdom and the UAE.

Bayanat, a geospatial data products and services provider owned by Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company G42, said in October it aimed to raise more than Dh628.5 million ($171m) from its IPO.

Petrochemicals company Borouge, jointly owned by ADNOC and Austria’s Borealis, raised $2 billion in a May IPO on ADX.

Hospital operator Burjeel Holdings’ raised $299.49 million when it floated in October, selling an 11 percent stake and making it the largest healthcare provider on ADX. It operates 16 hospitals and 23 medical centres.

Dubai utilities provider DEWA’s IPO was 37 times over-subscribed, making it the largest ever in the UAE when it floated on DFM in April. It raised $6.1 billion, making it the UAE’s and EMEA’s largest ever IPO. It was only the emirate’s second IPO since 2017.

In November, Dubai sold a 10  per cent stake in Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation, better known as Empower, the emirate’s district cooling provider. It raised $724 million.

Dewa and Emirates Power Investment continue to own 56 per cent and 24 per cent of Empower’s existing share capital, respectively, following the offering.

Dubai’s government said it planned to sell a 20 per cent stake in the emirate’s toll operator, Salik, through an IPO on DFM in September. It aims to raise $817 million.

In a rare private-sector listing, Dubai private school operator Taaleem announced plans in November for a $204 million initial public offering (IPO) on DFM.

Taleem, which runs 26 schools across the UAE, is setting aside two percent of the offer shares for eligible employees and parents. It comes as Dubai privatises 10 state-owned companies.

Business district developer Tecom Group, home to more than 7,800 companies, raised $463m on DFM in June and was 21 times over-subscribed.

Supermarket operator Union Coop’s Dubai debut on DFM in July 2022 traded 18 percent below its indicated price, valuing the company at AED6 billion ($1.64 billion) in July 2022. It was the first consumer cooperative in the UAE to list on the stock exchange, valued at $1.64 billion.

Money transfer giant Al Ansari Exchange has picked EFG-Hermes and Emirates NBD to work on its planned initial public offering in Dubai.

The exchange house could list in the first quarter of 2023, unnamed sources told Bloomberg, but details of the IPO could still change.

In October, it was supermarket giant Lulu Group’s turn to announce a mega-billion IPO float.

It is set for an ADX listing in 2023, although it is not yet known how much of a stake will be sold.

The company has 239 stores in 23 countries and employs more than 60,000 people and is expected to be valued for $5 billion or more.