16 Mena IPOs recorded in first half

GCC region accounts for bulk of those but capital raised falls 21% yearon-year to $788m

Initial public offering (IPO) activity in the Middle East and North Africa was up 100 per cent year-on-year in the first half, with 16 deals clinched.

However, announced Mena value, or capital raised, in the first half fell 21 per cent year-on-year to $788 million (Dh2.89 billion).

Of the 16 IPOs, nine of them worth $200.5 million were by companies listed on Saudi Arabia’s Nomu market.

The cross-border IPO by Ades International Holding Ltd, an oil and gas sector player, raised $243.5 million on the London Stock Exchange and is the largest IPO, in terms of capital raised, by a Mena company.

The construction industry followed with one deal valued at $135 million. The third most valuable IPO by capital raised was by a real estate investment trust (Reit) at $105 million.

“Increasing stability in oil prices and confidence in the global economy and markets are likely to drive an increased IPO activity in 2017 and 2018 across Mena, with a strong backlog of companies potentially preparing to come to market,” Gregory Hughes, EY Mena IPO leader, said. “The key driver for the Mena IPO market will likely be the privatisation of leading government-owned assets across a number of sectors.”

Orient UNB Takaful’s greenfield IPO in the second quarter of 2017 represents the first IPO on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) since that of Dubai Parks and Resorts in 2014.

The GCC saw 13 IPOs in the first half of 2017, a 33 per cent increase year-on-year. However, deal value fell 6 per cent year-onyear to $700 million in the period.