Gulf IPOs raised $10.1bn in 2023 after 55% slump

In a report titled “Initial Public Offerings in the GCC markets”, Markaz said during 2023, initial public offerings (IPO) in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC) raised total proceeds of $10.1bn through 45 offerings.

This figure represents a year-on-year decline of 55 per cent by value compared to the previous year, where issuers raised $22.7bn through 46 offerings.

Gulf IPO activity

Markaz’s report stated that the UAE led the region in terms of IPO proceeds during 2023, raising a total of $5.5bn from seven offerings. It constitutes 54 per cent of total GCC initial public offering proceeds.

However, this constituted a decrease of 55 per cent in the value of UAE initial public offerings compared to the year 2022.

• Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange: $4.9bn
• Saudi Exchange (Tadawul): $3.5bn,
• Muscat Securities Market (MSM): $973m
• Dubai Financial Market: $500m
• Qatar: $193

Although, there were only two initial public offerings of companies from the energy sector, it accounted for nearly 36 per cent of the total proceeds during the year.

Companies in the transportation sector raised $1.72bnn through 16 IPOs, constituting 17 per cent of total GCC initial public offering proceeds raised during 2023.

This was followed by IPOs from the industrial and healthcare sectors that raised $1.1bn (two) and $985m (one) respectively.

There was only one initial public offeringfrom the technology sector (Presight AI company) with an offered size of $496m.

Other initial public offerings primarily include companies from the capital goods, consumer services, financials, F&B and Media sector among others.

Top 5 GCC IPOs 2023

• Abu Dhabi National Oil Company gas business, ADNOC Gas, raised $2.5bn in proceeds marking the largest IPO on ADX in March 2. ADNOC Gas offered 3.84 billion shares, or 5 per cent stake, which was covered more than 50 times. ADNOC Gas IPO proceeds constituted 25per cent of total GCC initial public offering proceeds in the period
• ADES Holding Company IPO raised a total of $1.2bn in proceeds on September 28 making it the second largest IPO in 2023. ADES Holding Company was listed on Tadawul in the Main Market and offered 338 million shares. The company was covered 9.8 times and the proceeds constituted 12 per cent of total GCC initial public offering proceeds in 2023
• Pure Health initial public offering raised a total of $985m in proceeds on December 19 marking it the third largest initial public offering on ADX after ADNOC Gas. Pure Health offered 1.11bn shares or a 10 per cent stake. Pure Health IPO proceeds constituted 9.7 per cent of total GCC initial public offering proceeds in 2023
• ADNOC Logistics and Services initial public offeringraised a total of $771m in proceeds on May 25 marking it the fourth largest initial public offeringon ADX. ADNOC Logistics and Services offered 1.41bn shares or a 19 per cent stake and was covered 163 times. ADNOC Logistics and Services initial public offering proceeds constituted 7.6 per cent of total GCC initial public offering proceeds in 2023
• OQ Gas Network is the largest initial public offering in Oman in year 2023 that raised a total of $728m in proceeds on October 9 through the sale of 2bn shares, or a 49 per cent stake, with total demand of investors which reached 13.9 times. OQ Gas Network IPO constituted 7.2 per cent of total GCC initial public offering proceeds of 2023