AD Ports in Abu Dhabi looks at trade routes and acquisitions

DUBAI, Feb 8 (Reuters) – AD Ports Group in Abu Dhabi (ADPORTS.AD) Company executives said after the stock listing on Tuesday that they planned to develop extensive trade corridors linking the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East, the subcontinent, Africa and other regions.

AD Ports Group, controlled by state investor ADQ, made its debut on the Abu Dhabi Exchange on Tuesday after raising AED4 billion in proceeds from a major offering. read more .

Its shares opened at 3.5 dirhams ($0.9530) per share and briefly touched 3.74 dirhams before closing at 3.59 dirhams on Tuesday, according to Refinitiv data.

Ross Thompson, chief strategy and growth officer at AD Ports Group, said: “A key driver of our strategy is the development of extensive trade corridors of particular importance to Abu Dhabi.”

AD Ports Group operates the deep-water Khalifa Port in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, as well as other port and logistics parks there, as well as the Indian Ocean Port of Fujairah. It also operates a factory in Guinea.

“Our balance sheet is very strong. We have ambitions to grow,” Chief Financial Officer Martin Aarup said in an interview, adding that the group was in no hurry.

“We want good deals. We have a strong pipeline and we’re constantly screening (targets).”

Aarup said the group is interested in investing in ports, logistics, maritime and digital.

With the equity injection, AD Ports has a strong balance sheet and low leverage, he said. It raised $1 billion in 10-year bonds last year and has nearly $1 billion in unused revolving credit lines, the company said in an email.

“As part of growth and our growth strategy, we’re going to have to raise additional capital, also on the debt side,” Aarup said.

“When we issued our first bond last year, we did it as a program, so it also indicated that we would be back in the market. The timing will depend on when the growth opportunities materialize.”

AD Ports said its ports business accounted for about 30% of annual revenue, while industrial and logistics parks accounted for about 33%. It said it has an expected compound growth rate of about 13%.

(1 USD = 3.6726 UAE Dirham)

Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh, Saeed Azhar and Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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