Dubai, UAE– ADNOC Gas said Monday that ADNOC will increase the number of ordinary shares offered in its Initial Public Offering (IPO) to 3.83 billion shares, equivalent to approximately 5 percent of ADNOC’s total issued share capital.
ADNOC had previously announced that it would offer 3.07 billion ordinary shares, representing approximately 4 percent of the total issued share capital of the company.
In a statement, the company said the decision to increase the size of the offering was based on “significant investor demand across all tranches and to reflect ADNOC’s commitment to a supportive trading environment for the company’s stock post-Admission”.
Assuming all of the shares in the IPO are sold, the offering size will be approximately $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion (AED8.6 billion to AED9.3 billion). The final offer price is expected to be announced on Friday, March 3, 2023.
Khaled Al Zaabi, Group CFO of ADNOC, said the IPO of ADNOC Gas is set to be the largest-ever market debut on the ADX to date.
ADNOC also decided to increase the size of the First Tranche of the Offering from 10 percent to 12 percent (representing 460 million ordinary shares) and the Third Tranche of the Offering (reserved for employees of ADNOC group companies residing in the UAE and UAE national retirees of ADNOC group companies residing in the UAE) from 2 percent to 4 percent (representing 153 million ordinary shares).
The remaining 84 percent of the offering (representing 3.22 billion ordinary shares) has been reserved for investors in the Qualified Investor Offering.
The subscription period for the offering is unchanged and will continue until March 1, as part of a UAE public offering to individuals and other investors in the UAE; employees of ADNOC group companies residing in the UAE; and UAE national retirees of ADNOC group companies residing in the UAE.
For qualified institutional and other investors in a number of countries, including the UAE, the subscription period will continue until March 2.
The final offer price per share will be determined through a book-building process and is expected to be announced on March 3, while the completion of the offering and admission is expected on March 13.
The Abu Dhabi Pension Fund, South Africa’s Alpha Wave Ventures and Abu Dhabi’s IHC Capital Holding are among the cornerstone investors, as well as other Emirati-controlled entities, committing a combined $850 million.
The share flotation, announced only last week, follows increased activity in the gas market following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
European countries scrambled to secure new gas suppliers other than Russia, sending prices to record highs before they fell back during an unusually mild winter.
ADNOC Gas’s parent company, ADNOC, is one of the world’s biggest producers of crude and the United Arab Emirates’ key revenue-earner.
According to Bloomberg, only $1.67 billion has been raised in IPOs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa so far this year.