ABU DHABI: Investor interest was strong Wednesday as Abu Dhabi’s state energy company listed a stake in its retail distribution arm, the first time the emirate has sold shares in one of its oil firms.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said it had raised $845 million by floating 10 percent of its subsidiary ADNOC Distribution, a landmark share offering as Gulf energy firms open up to outside investments.
The initial public offering price for the shares was at 2.5 dirhams (68 US cents) and by 9:15 a.m. GMT they were trading at 73 cents.
ADNOC said the IPO brought the subsidiary’s market capitalization to $8.5 billion, making it the fourth-largest firm on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
The statement said the IPO was oversubscribed several times and that 90 percent of the shares were sold to institutional investors, a third of them international, and the rest to individual investors.
Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital which holds more than 90 percent of the country’s 98 billion barrels of crude reserves, has never before offered public shares in one of its oil companies.
Hit hard by the sharp drop in oil prices, energy-dependent Gulf states have resorted to a string of reforms including hiking fuel and power prices, imposing taxes and selling off part of their strategic assets to raise funds.
Neighboring oil kingpin Saudi Arabia is planning to eventually float up to 5 percent of its national oil company Aramco, in what many expect would be the biggest IPO in history.
With 360 fuel stations and more than 235 stores, ADNOC Distribution is the UAE’s largest operator of petrol stations and the sole retail fuel operator in the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
“We were extremely pleased with the demand for this landmark IPO. We received substantial interest from the international investment community, as well as an overwhelming response from investors in the UAE,” ADNOC CEO Sultan Al-Jaber said in the statement.
Established in 1973, ADNOC Distribution posted net profits of $485 million in 2016.
ADNOC has recently renewed concession rights and offered new joint ventures to a number of international oil companies as it bids to raise UAE output to 3.5 million barrels per day next year, from the current 3.2 million bpd.
Strong interest as UAE oil giant lists retail arm
Strong interest as UAE oil giant lists retail arm
Lebanese social entrepreneur Omar Itani recognized by Schwab Foundation
- FabricAID co-founder among 21 global recipients recognized for social innovation
DAVOS: Lebanon’s Omar Itani is one of 21 recipients of the Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators of the Year Award by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Itani is the co-founder of social enterprise FabricAID, which aims to “eradicate symptoms of poverty” by collecting and sanitizing secondhand clothing before placing items in stores in “extremely marginalized areas,” he told Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
With prices ranging from $0.25 to $4, the goal is for people to have a “dignified shopping experience” at affordable prices, he added.
FabricAID operates a network of clothing collection bins across key locations in Lebanon and Jordan, allowing people to donate pre-loved items. The garments are cleaned and sorted before being sold through the organization’s stores, while items that cannot be resold due to damage or heavy wear are repurposed for other uses, including corporate merchandise.
Since its launch, FabricAID has sold more than 1 million items, reached 200,000 beneficiaries and is preparing to expand into the Egyptian market.
Amid uncertainty in the Middle East, Itani advised young entrepreneurs to reframe challenges as opportunities.
“In Lebanon and the Arab world, we complain a lot,” he said. Understandably so, as “there are a lot of issues” in the region, resulting in people feeling frustrated and wanting to move away. But, he added, “a good portion of the challenges” facing the Middle East are “great economic and commercial opportunities.”
Over the past year, social innovators raised a combined $970 million in funding and secured a further $89 million in non-cash contributions, according to the Schwab Foundation’s recent report, “Built to Last: Social Innovation in Transition.”
This is particularly significant in an environment of geopolitical uncertainty and at a time when 82 percent report being affected by shrinking resources, triggering delays in program rollout (70 percent) and disruptions to scaling plans (72 percent).
Francois Bonnici, director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Executive Committee, said: “The next decade must move the models of social innovation decisively from the margins to the mainstream, transforming not only markets but mindsets.”
Award recipients take part in a structured three-year engagement with the Schwab Foundation, after which they join its global network as lifelong members. The program connects social entrepreneurs with international peers, collaborative initiatives, and capacity-building support aimed at strengthening and scaling their work.
