Following the launch of the subscription period for ADNOC Distribution’s initial public offering last week, the IPO attracted a strong response from investors.

The retail tranche of the offering, which closed on the 7th of December, secured significant local interest and was oversubscribed by 22 times at the initial tranche size, raising AED 3.49 billion in retail subscriptions alone. This enabled the issuer to double the size of the retail tranche from 5% to 10% of the total offering size. The institutional tranche has garnered substantial engagement from high quality, global institutional investors, and was oversubscribed multiple times. The price was set at AED 2.50 and the deal size comprises 10% of all shares of ADNOC Distribution.

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions, is the only regional bank acting as a Joint Global Coordinator on this transaction and the sole Lead Receiving Bank.

The transaction is set to raise over AED 3 billion for ADNOC, and represents an important further step in ADNOC’s ongoing transformation and value creation strategy announced earlier this year. Specifically, the IPO forms part of ADNOC’s more proactive and smarter approach to managing its assets and capital as it looks to unlock and drive greater value from across the entire ADNOC Group business.

André Sayegh, FAB Deputy Group CEO and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking, said: “The response from investors for this IPO has been very positive, generating a record demand of Investor Number applications. The launch of this unique offering marks a series of firsts for the market. It is the first bookbuild IPO for the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), the first international offering, and it will also be the first and largest retail sector stock on the ADX. This IPO will help further diversify the market and provide investors with a greater choice. The company will also be amongst the largest stocks on ADX, helping to attract more foreign direct investment into the UAE.”

The IPO is a milestone for ADNOC, as it represents the first time ADNOC has listed any of its group companies. The IPO also follows on from the first ever capital markets bond issuance for an ADNOC company, Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline LLC (ADCOP), last month, where FAB was also Joint Global Coordinator. 

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