Abu Dhabi’s First IPO of the Year Rides AI Boom to Price at Top - Bloomberg
Alpha Data is likely to price its initial public offering in Abu Dhabi at the top of a planned range, as investors piled into the IT services firm that’s been a beneficiary of the surge in interest in artificial intelligence.
The listing is expected to price at 1.50 dirhams ($0.41) a share, the top end of a range which began at at 1.45 dirhams, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. That puts the firm on track to raise 600 million dirhams at a valuation of 1.5 billion dirhams.
Alpha Data’s listing will be the first deal of 2025 in the United Arab Emirates — the Middle East’s busiest venue for listings last year. The IPO will further help diversify the Abu Dhabi bourse, giving investors the chance to buy into a firm that reported compound annual revenue growth of 23% between 2021 and 2024.
This year has started positively, especially with the tailwind from agentic AI, Alpha Data founder Fayez Ibbini told Bloomberg News this month. The company is selling up to 400 million shares, or a 40% stake, and had demand for all shares on offer shortly after subscriptions opened earlier this month.
The stock is expected to start trading on the Abu Dhabi exchange in March.
Firms raised over $6 billion with new share sales in the UAE in 2024, accounting for about 46% of the total haul for the Middle East. Still, two of the largest offerings — Talabat Holding PLC and Lulu Retail Holdings PLC — had muted debuts after drawing significant demand.
The UAE is set for a busy year in 2025 too. In addition to Alpha Data, Etihad Airways PJSC is teeing up a $1 billion IPO in Abu Dhabi that will make it the first major Gulf carrier to be listed. Last week, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. raised $2.84 billion from a secondary offering in its gas unit.
In neighboring Dubai, state-backed Investment Corp. of Dubai is planning to take a construction company public, while an investment vehicle controlled by the emirate’s ruler is preparing to list two separate real estate portfolios.
Established in 1981 by Ibbini, Alpha Data’s technologies include artificial intelligence, security, big data and cloud services, according to its website. The company plans to pay a dividend of 130 million dirhams for the financial year ending December 31, in two equal tranches.
It operates in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and employs 1,500 people.
EFG Hermes and Emirates NBD Capital are joint global coordinators on the share sale, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is joint bookrunner.
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