Investcorp Capital Has Muted Debut After $451 Million Abu Dhabi IPO - Bloomberg

Investcorp Capital Has Muted Debut After $451 Million Abu Dhabi IPO - Bloomberg

Investcorp Capital Plc, an investment vehicle backed by the Middle East’s biggest alternative asset manager, dropped on its first day of trading after its $451 million initial public offering in a rare poor debut in the region.

Shares in the company opened flat at the offering price of 2.30 dirhams in Abu Dhabi on Friday before climbing to as much as 2.40 dirhams. The stock then pared all of those gains to trade 2.6% lower at 11:41 a.m. local time.

The lackluster performance comes after the IPO had been priced at the top of the range and upsized by 12% on strong demand from international and regional institutional investors. IPOs in the Persian Gulf have held up well despite the uncertainty from the Israel-Hamas war and concerns about higher interest rates.

Other recent major listings in the region have soared on debut, such as Saudi cargo firm SAL Saudi Logistics Services, and oil driller ADES Holding Co which jumped as much as 30%. Investcorp Capital’s debut is the worst for IPOs raising at least $100 million in the Middle East in almost a year, since Saudi Aramco Base Oil Co.’s slump at the end of 2022.

More than half of the offering — $250 million — had been taken up by a cornerstone investor, a special purpose vehicle including about 160 investors from across the Gulf, including existing Investcorp clients. Volumes are also in focus as Investcorp Capital debuted on Friday, the day all markets in the Gulf are closed except in the UAE.

Investcorp Capital, which is backed by Investcorp Holdings, invests in private equity, real estate, credit and general partner positions in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Investcorp sold 398.5 million shares in the IPO, while the rest were new shares from the company.