UAE’s IPOs raise $11.90 billion during last 12 months

The UAE’s stock markets have witnessed as many as seven Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the last 12 months and they have raised $11.90 billion in the last 12 months.

Most of the listed companies in the last one year recorded strong performance, with variation in trading periods.

For instance, the IPO of Fertiglobe, which was listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) in November last year, raised over $795 million and saw significant interest, with oversubscription levels in excess of 22 times. The share prices increased by 117%, compared to the IPO price $0.61.

The Abu Dhabi Ports Group, which closed an initial issuance of $1.09 billion in February this year, increased by 57.5% to $1.37 compared with $0.87 of the initial price.

The price of the shares of ADNOC Drilling, which was listed in October last year, rose 44.8% to $0.90 per share, compared with the listing price of $0.63, while ADC Corporation, which was established for the purpose of acquisition or merger (SPAC), started trading of shares in May this year, which increased by 29.6% to $3.53 compared with $2.72 per share.

The price of the recently-listed shares of Borouge rose by 28.2% to $0.85 compared with $0.67 from the offering price.

However, the telecommunication firm Yahsat, which was listed on ADX in July 2021, saw its share price decline marginally by 3.6% at $0.72 compared with the listing price of $0.75.

Trade Balance

Meanwhile, the UAE’s trade balance with the GCC countries recorded a surplus of $36.67 billion during 2021, according to the data from the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center.

The data showed the growth of intra-regional trade between the UAE and the other 5 GCC nations was 26% to $67.38 billion during 2021 compared with $53.50 billion at the end of 2020.

The UAE’s imports from the GCC region rose during the past year to $15.33 billion compared with $11.92 billion in the previous year. The non-oil exports to the GCC in 2021 also increased to $19.58 billion compared with $13.29 billion in 2020.

The value of re-exports increased by the end of 2021 to $32.43 billion compared with $28.26 billion in 2020. Mineral oils were at the forefront of the five most important commodities imported from the GCC countries last year, with a value of $4.52 billion, followed by ethylene polymers with a value of $1.01 billion.