Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

IPOs boost Abu Dhabi’s bourse despite stock sell-off

By Matt Smith
ADX up Adnoc IPOS Reuters/Ben Job
Initial public offerings that sold small stakes in government-owned businesses have swelled the combined value of listed firms on the Abu Dhabi Exchange
  • Adnoc subsidiary listings offset slump in stock trading
  • Abu Dhabi Exchange turnover and volumes fell overall
  • Dubai Financial Market up amid renewed property boom

The market capitalisation of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange rose by $43.7 billion in the first half of 2023.

The listings of two Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) subsidiaries more than offset a sustained decline on the bourse’s index and a slump in stock trading.

Since late 2021, a flurry of initial public offerings (IPO) that sold small stakes in Abu Dhabi government-owned businesses has swelled the combined value of listed firms on the UAE capital’s stock market.

The pace of the UAE’s part-privatisation drive has slowed in 2023 – both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai – as soaring interest rates and global economic wobbles make buying equities less attractive versus the safer alternative of putting cash in interest-paying savings accounts.

Nevertheless, state-owned Adnoc raised AED9.1 billion ($2.5 billion) by selling 5 percent of Adnoc Gas in a March IPO that valued the subsidiary at AED181.9 billion.

As of June 26, the bourse’s most recent trading day, Adnoc Gas was worth AED236.4 billion.

Another unit, Adnoc Logistics and Services, joined the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on June 1 after completing a $769 million IPO that offloaded 19 percent of its shares.

Its current market value is AED22.6 billion.

These listings, along with the IPO of Abu Dhabi government-backed firm Presight AI, enabled the bourse’s combined market value to reach AED2.78 trillion on June 26, bourse data shows.

That compares with AED2.62 trillion on December 31, 2022; its combined value rose by AED160 billion, or $43.7 billion, in the first six months of this year.

The increase occured despite the bourse’s index dropping 6.5 percent over the same period.

The benchmark is down 10.2 percent since hitting an all-time closing high in mid-November 2022.

ADX stock trading totalled AED171.7 billion in the first half of 2023 as 27.6 billion shares changed hands.

In the prior-year period, 34.3 billion shares worth a combined AED211.3 billion were traded.

As such, bourse turnover and volumes fell 18.7 and 19.5 percent respectively, according to AGBI calculations based on ADX data.

Dubai Financial Market

The Dubai Financial Market General Index, in contrast, is up 13.9 percent this year, hitting an eight-year high in late June as banking and real estate stocks led gains amid a renewed property boom in the emirate.

The bourse’s market capitalisation is currently AED652.1 billion, according to the UAE state-owned news agency WAM.

That is up 12 percent from AED582 billion as of December 31, the DFM’s latest annual report states.

As well as rising stock prices, the bourse’s overall value was also boosted by Al Ansari Financial Services’ AED773 million IPO.

The March flotation, which sold 10 percent of its shares, valued the company at AED7.73 billion. 

Latest articles

Tunisia olives

Soaring olive oil exports help Tunisia balance books

Tunisia’s soaring olive oil exports have almost doubled to close to $1 billion in just five months, helping it claw back its current account deficit.   However the increased revenues merely “paint over the cracks” and the country is still probably heading towards a sovereign default, according to an economic expert. Tunisia’s current account deficit narrowed […]

Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani attends licensing rounds for 29 oil and gas exploration blocks at the oil ministry's headquarters in Baghdad

Falling oil prices deepen Iraq’s fiscal imbalances, says IMF

Iraq’s fiscal imbalances have worsened due to significant fiscal expansion and lower oil prices, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The ongoing fiscal expansion is expected to boost growth in 2024 at the expense of a further deterioration of fiscal and external accounts and Iraq’s vulnerability to oil price fluctuations,” the Washington-based fund said in […]

Saudi aluminium producer Talco is offering 12 million shares

Aluminium producer Talco announces Saudi IPO

Aluminium producer Al Taiseer Group Talco Industrial Company (Talco) is the latest entity to reveal initial public offering (IPO) plans in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh-based company, which was set up in 2009, is offering 12 million shares, a 30 percent stake, on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) at a nominal value of SAR10 ($2.67) per share. […]

One of the four restaurants in the Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel, which is listed on the Emirates Auction website

Palazzo Versace hotel sale aims to ride Dubai tourism wave

Owners of Dubai’s ultra-luxurious Palazzo Versace hotel are looking to capitalise on the emirate’s tourism boom before it peaks, offering it for sale at nearly AED1.4 billion ($380 million). A source familiar with the asset told AGBI the hotel is being “readvertised” as it has not found a buyer willing to meet its price tag […]