Dubai, UAE — Al Ansari Financial Services, a remittance and foreign exchange services provider in the UAE, will be offering 7.5 million shares (each valued AED0.01) in its IPO, which will be Dubai’s first in 2023.
The company said in a statement that the offering represents 10 percent of its total existing share capital. The size of the IPO could be amended any time before the pricing.
While the UAE retail subscription period is expected to run from 16 Mar-23 March, the investor subscription period is scheduled to open on 16 March and close on 24 March. The company expects to list and start trading on the Dubai Financial Market in April.
Al Ansari will be one of the first IPO by a family-owned business in the UAE, where the majority of the listing firms have been state-owned.
The Emirates Investment Authority (EIA) is entitled to subscribe for up to 5 percent of the Global Offering, and the percentage of shares which the EIA may purchase would be allocated in full before allocation to any other subscribers to the Qualified Investor Offer.
Mohammad Ali Al Ansari, Chairman of Al Ansari Finance Services, said, “Our strong track record of successful growth, underpinned by the trust we have built with our customers, partners, the CBUAE, and the Central Bank of Kuwait, has culminated in this milestone moment. We believe Al Ansari Financial Services is ready to become a publicly listed company and offer investors a unique investment opportunity with significant exposure to a region that is expected to witness robust growth in the mid-term.”
Established nearly 60 years ago, Al Ansari Exchange has over 200 branches in the UAE and also offers services for paying domestic workers and savings schemes.
Al Ansari IPO follows the UAE’s first and world’s biggest in 2023, ADNOC Gas’ 2.5 billion dollar offering recently. On 6 March 2023, Presight, which is owned by G24, announced its intention to list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia will lead the Initial Public Offering (IPO) markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2023, according to EFG Hermes Holding, a leading investment bank franchise in Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM).
UAE, Saudi Arabia to lead IPO MENA markets: EFG Hermes
‘’The IPO markets in MENA have seen strong momentum last year led by GCC countries, especially UAE and Saudi Arabia,” the Group Chief Executive Officer of EFG Hermes Holding Karim Awad said recently on the sidelines of the 17th EFG Hermes One-on-One Conference in the UAE capital.