ADNH Catering IPO: Company raises $235m in Abu Dhabi share offering

Strong demand sees shares priced at top of range and oversubscribed multiple times

ADNH Catering shares are expected to start trading on the ADX on October 23. Victor Besa / The National

ADNH Catering, a unit of Abu Dhabi National Hotels, has raised Dh864 million ($235 million) through its initial public offering, pricing its shares at the top of the indicated range amid continued investor demand for listings in the region.

The company has set the final price at Dh0.96 per share for its public float on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the company said on Wednesday.

It offered 900 million shares, or 40 per cent of its total share capital, implying a market valuation on listing of Dh2.16 billion. All shares offered for sale through the float were held by the company's parent ADNH, which also trades on the ADX.

The share sale, which ran from October 7 to October 14 for UAE retail investors and eligible employees, and on October 15 for professional investors, was multiple times oversubscribed, with “substantial demand from both international and regional investors”, the company said.

ADNH Catering shares are expected to start trading on the Abu Dhabi bourse’s main index on October 23, subject to final regulatory approvals.

“The strong investor demand we have received for our IPO … reflects the confidence that investors have in ADNH Catering’s investment proposition, strategy and trajectory,” said Clive Cowley, chief executive of ADNH Catering.

The competition of the IPO is “another important milestone” for the company, which will continue to expand operations to achieve its long-term objective of sustainable growth and creating value for all stakeholders, he said.

“We remain firmly committed to capitalising on new opportunities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, while maintaining our focus on … innovation in the catering and support services sector,” Mr Cowley added.

ADNH Catering is the latest company seeking to capitalise on the IPO boom in the UAE driven by growing investor demand amid strong economic growth.

It follows the listing of NMDC Energy, a unit of Abu Dhabi contractor National Marine Dredging Company, which began trading on the ADX in September after closing the biggest IPO in the Emirates this year.

The float, which was oversubscribed by more than 31 times, raised Dh3.22 billion through the sale of 23 per cent of the company's total share capital.

ADNH Catering offers services including food preparation as well as general cleaning, housekeeping, pest control and procurement in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. It operates across the health care, business and industry, defence, correctional and education sectors and has approximately 160 on-site kitchens that serve more than 260 clients through 350 contracts. It delivers more than 11 million meals a month.

The company, which currently operates in Saudi Arabia through a joint venture with Compass Group and Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company, plans to expand its business in the kingdom by about 10 per cent annually, Mr Cowley told The National earlier this month.

ADNH Catering controls 30 per cent of the joint venture and is in talks with Saudi partners to increase its equity holding in the company.