Dubai— Americana Restaurants, the largest quick-service restaurant operator in the Middle East and Africa region, plans to sell a 30 percent stake in an IPO and list both on ADX and Saudi Arabia’s Tadawaul.
The company said it will sell 2.5 billion of its existing shares in the IPO, which expected to run from 14-21 Nov. for retail investors in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and from 14-22 Nov. for institutional investors.
The final offering prices will be determined after the book-building process. Americana’s shares are expected to start trading on the Arab world’s two biggest stock exchanges by December 6, the company said.
Operating in 12 countries with brands such as Pizza Hut and KFC, Americana Restaurants was previously operated by Kuwait Food Company (Americana), under the wider Americana umbrella, which included both restaurant and food businesses. The IPO is for the restaurant business only.
The company said the selling shareholder owns 96 percent of the total issued share capital of Americana Restaurants and is the jointly-held investment vehicle of Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar, Founder of Emaar Properties, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Mohamed Alabbar said, “It gives us great pleasure to announce the start of our IPO process, a major milestone in our fifty-plus year history. We are proud of the fact that Americana Restaurants is a GCC-born food and beverage champion, which has grown to be the single largest player in the MENA region and Kazakhstan.”
“A concurrent dual listing on [the] ADX and the Saudi exchange marks a first-of-its-kind transaction for both markets, and no company could be better suited than Americana Restaurants to carry this torch,” said Mohamed Alabbar added.