KFC Mena franchisee set for first GCC dual listing next week

Creative Commons

Americana Restaurants, the Middle East and North Africa franchisee of KFC and Pizza Hut, will list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) next Monday, the two bourses said in statements on Friday.

According to a circular issued by ADX, the shares will be listed on the exchange under the trading symbol “AMR” from December 12, the UAE state-owned WAM news agency reported.

The stock will be listed with the symbol “6015” on Tadawul with no daily price fluctuation limits applied during the first three days of listing, the Saudi exchange said in a statement.

Americana Restaurants recently announced investor allocations and the revised timetable for its initial public offering (IPO) – the first concurrent dual listing on ADX and Tadawul.

The final offer price has been set at AED 2.62 per share in the UAE and SAR 2.68 per share in Saudi Arabia.

The book-building process generated approximately $105 billion in orders from qualified institutional and retail investors.

The UAE and Saudi retail offers were oversubscribed by approximately 48.2x and 2.8x, respectively. The institutional offer was oversubscribed by 65.5x, resulting in an aggregate oversubscription level of 58x. 

Americana Restaurants will have a free float of 33.97 percent of its issued share capital following the listing.

Founded in Kuwait in 1964, Americana operates 1,800 restaurants across the region, according to its website. It operates the franchises for KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee’s and Krispy Creme, among others.