Fast food group Americana Restaurants International is set to raise as much as $1.8 billion from its initial public offering (IPO), according to a statement released on Monday.
The price range was set at AED2.50 to AED2.62 per share, the statement said, implying an equity value for the group set between $5.73 billion to $6.01 billion.
The offering subscription period is expected to run from November 14 until November 21 for retail investors and until November 22 for institutional investors.
“The final offer price will be determined through a book-building process and is expected to be announced on November 23,” the statement said, adding that the “admission of shares to trading on ADX and the Saudi Exchange is expected to be on December 6,” subject to receiving all required regulatory approvals.
Speaking to Arabian Business earlier, Americana Restaurants’ chairman revealed the group is on track to hit record revenues and market share.
“What we are providing is the real bread and butter of human life. You can’t survive without eating every day. You can survive without buying a car every day, or buying new clothes every day, but you need to eat every day. And we are feeding 70 million people a year through our restaurants,” he said in an interview with Arabian Business.
The company 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.
Alabbar purchased Americana in 2016 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).
Americana’s IPO will come amid a slew of IPOs in the Middle East. Listings on Gulf stock exchanges are on track for their best-ever first half as high oil prices and broad economic reforms draw investors to the region.
IPOs in the Middle East have fetched $13.7 billion in the first five months of the year, already eclipsing the amount raised in any other first half, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Saudi Arabia — the largest Gulf IPO market — has seen 15 listings this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s more than the 14 share sales in the kingdom for all of 2021.
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