Abu Dhabi IPOs, Turkey's Opposition, Dubai Luxury Real Estate; Egypt's Crisis - Bloomberg
The boom in Middle East initial public offerings has continued into 2023 and the United Arab Emirates’s capital is leading the way, hosting the world’s biggest listing so far.
Abu Dhabi’s main energy company raised $2.5 billion in the IPO of its gas business last week, the largest globally of 2023 and the first major deal in the region this year.
The share sale was 50 times oversubscribed with $124 billion of investor orders, a record for IPOs in the Middle East and North Africa, showing that demand for Gulf listings remains strong even as the region’s stocks underperform other emerging markets.
Before the dust could settle on Adnoc Gas, Abu Dhabi’s G42 announced the $495 million IPO of data analytics firm Presight AI Holding. And the emirate is expecting at least eight companies to list this year spanning technology and media to asset management, a senior government official said in an interview recently.
The activity firmly places Abu Dhabi at the forefront of the Middle East’s IPO boom at the start of 2023, with no listings in Dubai so far and just an $11 million deal in Saudi Arabia. Before Adnoc Gas, the biggest IPO of the region in 2023 was Turkish transformer manufacturer Astor Enerji’s 2.63 billion lira ($139 million) Istanbul float, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Abu Dhabi's ADQ, IHC team with General Atlantic on asset management
Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ and local conglomerate IHC said on Monday they plan to create a multi-asset class investment manager, and bring in global private equity firm General Atlantic as a strategic partner and investor.
The investment manager will manage a portfolio of assets from ADQ’s alternative investments platform Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG) and IHC, the three parties said, as well as fresh capital from founding shareholders and future investors.
It will establish its primary hub in Abu Dhabi, with the intention of adding further international offices in North America, Europe and Asia, the parties said in a statement.
ADQ and IHC are chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who is also the UAE's national security adviser and has been a foreign policy troubleshooter for his brother, President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
Mideast Stocks: Emaar Dev boosts Dubai as Gulf markets rise; Egypt extends losses
Most Gulf stock markets closed higher on Monday, shrugging of a decline in oil prices, with Dubai leading the gains after the biggest ever intraday increase in Emaar Development, while the Egyptian index extended losses. Oil prices, a major driver for Gulf economies, fell on Monday, with Brent crude futures trading down $1.30, or 1.5%, at $84.53 a barrel at 1210 GMT.
The demand concern could impact oil prices after China set lower-than-expected growth targets, said Farah Mourad, senior market analyst at XTB MENA.
"The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are expected to adopt more hawkish monetary policies" Saudi Arabia's benchmark index ended 0.4% higher, extending its rally to a fifth session. The index was lifted by gains in health care and banking stocks, with Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services increasing 1.7% and Riyad Bank climbing 2.5%.
Dubai's main share index climbed 1.1%, boosted by a 14.9% surge in Emaar Development, its biggest intraday gain ever and the surge added 2.9 billion dirham ($789.67 million) to the company's market value. The real estate developer on Monday announced a cash dividend of 52 fils per share for the fiscal year 2022. The road tolls operator Salik was also up 4.7%.
Abu Dhabi's share index rose 0.9%, its fifth positive day in a row, lifted by a 1.4% hike in UAE's top lender First Abu Dhabi Bank. Conglomerate International Holding Co (IHC) gained 0.8% as it intends to invest in Presight AI Holding's initial public offering (IPO). IHC's unit Alpha Dhabi Holding also advanced more than 4%.
The Qatari index, which traded after a session's break, gained 0.7%, as most of its constituent stocks moved in positive territory, including petrochemical maker Industries Qatar, which was up 1.4%.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index, closed slightly lower to 0.1%, extending its losses to a third consecutive session, with Egypt Kuwait Holding shedding 2.6%.
Canada’s $124 Billion Pension Courts Gulf Funds for Global Deals - Bloomberg
Alberta’s $124 billion investment manager is looking to build ties with sovereign wealth funds in Abu Dhabi as the Canadian firm looks to expand outside its home market and diversify its portfolio.
Alberta Investment Management Co. Chief Executive Officer Evan Siddall said he’s met officials at some of the city’s largest funds to identify opportunities for joint investments in the region and around the world.
“We’re building relationships with the big funds,” Siddall said in a recent interview, declining to name the funds he met. “Infrastructure is one [area] where we’re quite active, and in real estate.”
Aimco, which invests on behalf of 32 pension, endowment and government funds in the oil-rich Canadian province, named Siddall CEO in 2021 after it lost C$2.1 billion ($1.6 billion) on a bet against market volatility that blew up when the pandemic hit. Siddall, former head of Canada’s housing agency, has since overhauled the executive team, including a new chief risk officer and a new investment head.
Dubai’s MAF to Grow Property Business After Revenue Jump - Bloomberg
Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC plans to grow its residential real estate business as the property and retail conglomerate taps a boom in the city’s housing market.
“Our property business had a strong year. Not just on the malls side, but our portfolio of property has become diversified and balanced,” Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Galal Ismail said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “For the first time, almost one third of revenue in our property business came from the residential and communities business. That may increase to almost 50% of revenue on our property side next year.”
Ismail, who recently took over as CEO after running the the group’s property unit since 2018, was speaking after the group reported higher full-year revenue following a regional boom in tourism bolstered footfall at its malls, hotels and entertainment venues. Demand for Dubai property is also growing as the government’s handling of the pandemic and its liberal visa policies attract more foreign buyers.
Still, net profit slipped 2% to 2.4 billion dirhams ($653 million) due to higher inflation and currency fluctuations in several of the group’s markets.
Saudi Arabia deposits $5 bln in Turkey's central bank - statement | Reuters
Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with Turkey to deposit $5 billion in the country's central bank through the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), the fund said on Monday.
Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan announced his country's intention to make the deposit in December.
While Turkey's net foreign exchange reserves rebounded from just over $6 billion last summer, when it was at its lowest in at least 20 years, they have lost some $8.5 billion since a massive earthquake hit the country's southern region early in February that killed more than 45,000 people and left millions homeless.
Abu Dhabi's Presight AI to raise over $495mln in IPO
Abu Dhabi-based G42 Group, an artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing technology company, is selling a 32% stake or 1.35 billion shares in its subsidiary, Presight AI, in an initial public offering (IPO) that is set to raise 1.82 billion dirhams ($495.6 million).
The IPO price is set at AED1.34 per share, with the subscription period running from March 13 through March 17, the company said in an advertisement issued in the local media.
Following the IPO, the share capital of Presight, an AI-powered big data analytics company, will be AED560.86 million.
Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding Co. (IHC) on Monday said it intends invest as a cornerstone investor in the IPO. It did not disclose the value of the proposed investment.
Last year, G42 did an IPO of another subsidiary, Bayanat, an Abu Dhabi-based provider of geographic data and analytics. G42 is backed by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.
Mideast Stocks: Qatar leads most Gulf bourses higher; Saudi flat
Most Gulf stock markets rose in early trade on Monday, with the Qatari bourse leading the gains, while the Saudi index was muted amid falling oil prices.
Dubai's main share index gained 1%, boosted by a 14.9% surge in Emaar Properties after announcing cash dividend of 52 fils per share for the year 2022.
The real estate developer is on course for its biggest intraday gain ever and the surge added 2.9 billion dirham ($789.67 million) to company's market value.
In Abu Dhabi, the index added 0.6%, led by a 0.6% increase in International Holding Co (IHC), as the conglomerate intends to invest in Presight AI Holding's initial public offering (IPO).
Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence firm G42 plans to float its big data analytics unit Presight.ai via an 1.82 billion dirham ($495.6 million) IPO and list its shares on the local stock exchange.
Elsewhere, IHC's unit Alpha Dhabi Holding advanced 2.7%.
The Qatari index, which traded after a session's break, climbed 1.2%, with most of the stocks trading in the positive territory including petrochemical maker Industries Qatar, which was up 2.3%.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index, however, traded flat.
Oil prices - a key catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets - slipped after China set a lower-than-expected target for economic growth this year at around 5%, and as investors cautiously awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony this week.
