G42-owned company set to raise $171m on Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange

Bayanat, a provider of geospatial data products and services owned by Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company G42aims to raise more than Dh628.5 million ($171 million) from its IPO.

The company is selling 571.4 million shares, at an offer price of Dh1.10 per share, it announced on Friday. The sale is equivalent to 28.5% of the company’s share capital before the offer and 22.22% based on the company’s share capital at listing.

The listing subscription period begins on October 21 and ends on October 25, with the company planning to enter the first market of the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange October 31.

Provided the shares in the offering are fully subscribed, G42 will retain 77% ownership of the company after listing.

Private equity firm Silver Lake, which manages more than $92 billion in combined assets and has taken stakes in some of the world’s best-known tech companies – including Airbnb, Chinese payments giant Ant Financial, Expedia Group and Twitter – is a leading investor.

International Holding Company, the most valuable company listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, will also be the lead investor in the IPO.

G42 acquired Bayanat in 2020. The company was born out of the commercialization of the UAE Military Investigation Department, a sector of the UAE Armed Forces.

It provides nationwide mapping and geospatial products and services for the public and private sectors in the UAE.

After the IPO, Bayanat will become the first and only listed geospatial intelligence company in the Mena region.

Bayanat recorded a 48% annual increase in revenue, which stood at Dh366.7 million in its 2021 financial year, according to the company.

Revenue for the first nine months of 2022 more than doubled to around MAD 491 million. Gross profit for the period ending late September more than doubled to MAD 225.9 million while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization more than tripled to MAD 157.5 million.

First Abu Dhabi Bank is the lead receiving bank for the IPO, Dubai Islamic Bank is the lead manager and International Securities is the lead placement agent.

Bayant’s IPO comes after a surge in listings in the UAE and the wider region, where investor demand has been strong as economies rebound at a faster pace from the COVID-induced slowdown. coronavirus and liquidity has been bolstered by high oil prices.

Various state-owned companies have gone public in the UAE and private companies are following suit.

Earlier this month, the Abu Dhabi healthcare provider Burjeel Holdings listed its shares on the ADX after raising more than 1.1 billion dirhams through the sale of an 11% stake in the company’s IPO.

Other companies to go public this year include Borouge, the joint venture between Adnoc and Austrian chemicals producer Borealis, and Abu Dhabi Ports Group, the operator of industrial towns and free zones in the emirate.

Nine companies were listed on the ADX last year, including Adnoc Drilling, Fertiglobe, the world’s largest marine exporter of combined urea and ammonia, Alpha Dhabi, the IHC-owned property and construction company, and Yahsat. , the satellite operator owned by Mubadala Investment Company.

that of Abu Dhabi LuLu International Group also plans to launch an IPO next year.

Last year, Abu Dhabi also announced a Dh5bn Initial Public Offering funds to encourage and support private companies list on the local stock market.

The ADX, the second largest stock market in the Arab world, saw an increase in liquidity and foreign investment in 2021 thanks to new listings, making it one of the best performing equity indicators in the world in 2021.

The market value of the stock market has soared throughout the past year, with its market capitalization reaching around 2.3 trillion dirhams as of the close of trading on Thursday.

Dubai, which plans to list 10 public companies to increase the size of its financial market to around Dh3tn, also recorded a number of IPOs.

In September, the emirate’s toll operator Salik raised 3.73 billion dirhams from the sale of a 24.9% stake.

The Dubai Water and Electricity Authority has raised Dh22.41 billion since its IPO earlier in the year, making it the largest public float in the Middle East and Europe since Saudi Aramco went public in 2019.

Tecom, the operator of Dubai’s business districts, has also debuted on the DFM beginning of July, having raised 1.7 billion dirhams during its initial public offering a month earlier.

The number of listings on the Mena market has increased sixfold in the first six months of this year, with 24 IPOs generating $13.5 billion, according to an EY report on IPOs of the region.

In the second quarter of 2022, nine IPOs raised approximately $9 billion.

The United Arab Emirates was the largest IPO market in terms of overall deal value, while Saudi Arabia led in terms of volume, with five IPOs in the first six months of the year, according to EY data.

Updated: October 21, 2022, 05:49