ADNOC in UAE rates IPO of gas business near ceiling

• ADNOC Gas offer price set at 2.37 dirhams per share
• ADNOC raises approximately $2.5 billion from IPO

ABU DHABI, March 3 (Reuters) – State-owned oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) on Friday set the final price for its IPO, valuing the company at about $50 billion following record demand. It will be Abu Dhabi’s largest publicly traded company.

ADNOC Gas’s share price was priced at AED2.37 per share, near the upper end of the AED2.25 to AED2.43 per share price range, ADNOC said in a statement.

Proceeds from the IPO totaled about $2.5 billion from an order book of over $124 billion, ADNOC said. That surpassed demand after Saudi oil giant Aramco’s 2019 IPO, which raised $25.6 billion and remains the largest in the world.

Bucking the global trend, the Middle East raised about $21.9 billion through IPOs last year, according to Dealogic. That was more than half of the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

ADNOC announced last week that it would increase the stake offered to investors from 4% to 5% due to strong demand for the deal, Abu Dhabi’s largest IPO.

Abu Dhabi Pension Fund, Alpha Wave Ventures II, LP, IHC Capital Holding LLC, OneIM Fund I LP and companies ultimately controlled by sovereign wealth funds ADQ and the Emirates Investment Authority were cornerstones of the IPO, ADNOC said.

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ADNOC Gas is expected to start trading on March 13th.

ADNOC Group Chief Financial Officer Khaled Al Zaabi said the strong interest in the IPO underscores the “attraction of ADNOC’s prime and low-carbon energy asset base” and Abu Dhabi as a destination for global capital.

The group has raised billions of dollars by listing companies like ADNOC Drilling and Fertiglobe and by selling stakes in its network of gas and oil pipelines. It also plans to list its logistics and services unit on the stock exchange.

($1 = 3.6727 UAE Dirham)

Reporting by Yousef Saba in Dubai and Rachna Uppal in Abu Dhabi; Edited by Edmund Klamann, Sonali Paul and Louise Heavens

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