Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi petrochemicals company Borouge, surged in its trading debut after raising $2 billion in Abu Dhabi’s biggest listing.
The shares rose as much as 20 per cent to Dh2.95 on Friday, valuing Borouge at just over Dh88 billion ($24 billion). The shares were priced at Dh2.45 each.
The IPO attracted $83 billion of orders in the latest sign of strong demand for listings in the region. It drew interest from the likes of BlackRock and Fidelity. Seven cornerstone investors agreed to subscribe for $570 million worth of shares, including Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest man.
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 $11.4 billion in the first five months of the year, already eclipsing the amount raised in any other first-half.
Other ADNOC entities
In addition to Borouge, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has sold stakes in two units over the last year - ADNOC Drilling and fertilizer firm Fertiglobe. Shares in the drilling unit have risen 41 per cent since listing, while Fertiglobe’s stock has doubled.
Abu Dhabi-based Borouge makes specialty plastics for manufacturing and consumer goods. It has said it will pay $975 million in dividend for the financial year 2022, rising to at least $1.3 billion for 2023.
At the offer price, the projected dividend for next year implies a yield of 6.5 per cent. That’s above the average of 2.7 per cent for listed specialty chemical firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
