The value of Americana Restaurants rose by a remarkable $55 million a month (AED204 million) every month since it was taken over in 2016 by Mohamed Alabbar, according to new data obtained by Arabian Business.
The listing of America Restaurants will take place on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul on December 12, following its IPO which valued the group at $6 billion.
Bloomberg said investors from the UAE and Saudi Arabia who subscribed to Americana Restaurants’ initial public offering (IPO) got a minimum of 1,000 shares and a minimum of 892 shares each, respectively.
The offer was priced at AED2.62 per share for UAE investors, whereas in Saudi Arabia it was priced at SAR2.68. Meanwhile, institutional investors picked up 80 percent of the offer.
But, according to data shown to Arabian Business, the entire Americana Group was purchased for $3.4 billion in June 2016 by Mohamed Alabbar. The transaction was through his private vehicle Adeptio AD Investments SPC. The company then delisted from the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange and a 50 percent stake in the business was sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
However, only the restaurants side of the business – accounting, according to the data for 50 percent of the group, was offered for the IPO. The restaurants side, according to the data, accounted for half of the $3.4 billion purchase price.
“They paid $1.7 billion for the restaurants in 2016 and listed them for $6 billion in 2022. That’s how the value has risen,” said a source, adding: “Spread over the course of just over six years, that’s $55 million (AED204 million) a month the value has grown.”
Since the takeover, the company has expanded and now operates 12 international restaurant brands in 12 countries, in the MENA region and Kazakhstan, including KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee’s, Krispy Kreme and TGI Fridays. Americana recorded full year 2021 profits of $204 million on revenues of $2.1 billion.
The sector is worth $56bn and forecasting CAGR of 14 percent.
Americana operates 2,050 restaurants, with the largest share of 492 in the UAE, followed by 483 in Saudi Arabia.
Mohamed Alabbar, when asked about the rise in value, said: “I don’t dictate the share price so I can’t comment on the specific changes in value. But yes, it has risen and that is for many reasons. A huge amount of restructuring took place on the early days so the foundations could be solid. But then apart from expansion, there was considerable focus on technology, innovation and most of all people. This is a company with a workforce of 40,000. Getting them all to pull in the same direction is probably the single most important factor in the growth.”
He added: “Any business, doesn’t matter what the sector is, is a people business. Americana is no different. We brought in the best people to run Americana and I am very proud of them. Also, don’t discount the role of technology. In a sense this a very traditional business, operating chains of very well-known food restaurants like KFC. But the customer journey, customer experience and the efficiencies in the process have been almost re-invented in recent years.”
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