(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)
The outlook for initial public offerings in 2025 remains buoyant in the GCC after a bumper 2024 that saw 53 IPOs on the back of resilient investor demand and GCC governments continued push to diversify their economies and deepen capital markets, market watchers said.
This year, the pipeline looks promising, they said. Based on the status of IPO offering provided by Kamco Invest, there are around 40 IPOs already in the pipeline in the GCC, with 30 IPOs already announced, four have been mandated and six rumoured IPOs.
In the UAE, the IPO pipeline shows hotel operator FIVE planning an IPO this year along with Dubai Holdings that is planning two real estate listings, according to Junaid Ansari, head of Investment Strategy & Research at Kamco Invest. Other contenders, according to Bloomberg include classifieds company Dubizzle Group, IT services firm Alpha Data and ICD owned construction firm ALEC Engineering & Contracting LLC.
There are also reports that Abu Dhabi's wealth fund ADQ is planning to list state carrier Etihad Airways and has lined up banks to raise as much as $1 billion.
“In 2024, GCC equity markets continued to witness healthy primary market activity with steady growth in IPO volumes and proceeds during the year. GCC exchanges witnessed a total of 53 IPOs during 2024 with the bulk of the companies listing in Saudi Arabia. This was the highest number of IPOs in the region and a healthy growth from 46 IPOs in 2023,” Kamco analysts said.
In terms of proceeds, GCC issuers raised $12.9 billion during 2024, a 19.8 per cent gain as compared to the proceeds of $10.8 billion in 2023 and the second highest proceeds over the last five years, based on data from Bloomberg and stock exchanges. The increase in proceeds came despite issuance numbers being driven by smaller-ticket IPOs. In terms of performance post listing, bulk of the companies reported gains by the end of the year.
This year, Saudi Arabia is expected to lead once again in terms of volume of IPOs. These offerings include the continued privatization effort from the Saudi PIF that is planning three listings soon including port operator Saudi Global Ports and medical procurement firm Nupco.
There was also recent news of PIF-backed Tabreed District Cooling going for an IPO this year. There are a number of other private firms looking to raise funds in the Kingdom including low cost carrier Flynas, buy-now-pay-later company Tabby, and IT company Ejada Systems.
Oman is also expected to be active in the IPO market with the state sovereign wealth fund keen on privatizing around 30 assets in the next few years, as per an announcement at the end of 2023. The fund was active in 2024 and the pipeline shows logistics firm Asyad Group and Oman Electricity Transmission Co. as IPO contenders in 2025. State energy firm OQ also plans further listing in the coming years.
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