Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar is on course to make $4bn from the expected IPO of Americana Group.
The operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa is working with Morgan Stanley on an IPO. In June, Bloomberg reported that also involved are First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and SNB Capital and Rothschild & Co.
An expected dual listing would raise around $1 billion and, according to sources, putting an $8 billion valuation on the group.
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 PIF.
The huge increase in Americana’s valuation – more than double that six years ago – comes as the industry sees a huge surge in demand following the ending of the pandemic. In the MENA region, Americana also operates Baskin Robbins, Costa Coffee, and TGI Fridays.
The expected windfall will help propel Alabbar into becoming one of the UAE’s richest Arabs. In August, along with online luxury fashion retailer Farfetch, he acquired a more than 50 percent stake in e-commerce player Yoox Net-a-Porter from Swiss luxury group Richemont. He also has a 50 percent stake in Noon, and his holding company Alabbar Enterprises has interests across multiple retail and commercial sectors.
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