Abu Dhabi shares rose on Friday after flagship oil company Abu Dhabi National Company, also known as Adnoc, priced its gas business IPO near the upper end of the range, although Dubai bucked the trend.
ADNOC on Friday set the final price of Adnoc Gas’ IPO at 2.37 dirhams per share, valuing the company at about $50 billion.
Adnoc Gas will raise about $2.5 billion from an order book of more than $124 billion, making it Abu Dhabi’s largest IPO.
The company is expected to start trading on March 13.
In Abu Dhabi, the index rose 0.4 percent, extending gains into a fourth session, with International Holdings, the largest listed company in the emirate, up 1.3 percent, while marine construction company National Marine Dredging Company rose 2 percent.
Among gainers, Adnoc Drilling Company rose 2.4 percent after it signed a deal to buy 10 newbuild hybrid land drilling rigs for $252 million.
Fadi Reyad, chief market analyst for MENA at CAPEX.com, said sentiment in the Abu Dhabi market is likely to be on the positive side due to improved non-oil sector activity and the success of Adnoc Gas’ IPO.
UAE’s ADNOC prices gas business IPO near upper end of range
However, Dubai’s main market index ended 0.5% lower, dragged down by declines in banking stocks.
Top lenders Emirates NBD Bank tumbled 4.1 percent and Mashreqbank 5.3 percent as both stocks traded ex-dividend.
Separately, the United Arab Emirates’ economy grew 7.6% last year, roughly double the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, as the Gulf state rebounds sharply from the Covid-19 pandemic, a senior official said on Thursday.
================================== ABU DHABI up 0.4% to 9,907 DUBAI down 0.5% to 3,420 ==================================