Abu Dhabi: The National Takaful Company, Watania, an Abu Dhabi-based Sharia compliant insurance company, will launch its initial public offering (IPO) next Monday to raise Dh82.5 million, representing 55 per cent of the share capital, according to a statement issued yesterday.
Watania's Founders have subscribed to an aggregate value of Dh67.5 million shares representing 45 per cent of the share capital of Dh150 million.
"The offer price for each share is fixed at Dh1 with an additional Dh0.05 as subscription fee per offered share.
"The shares will be listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and the subscription period will be open from April 18 until May 1, 2011," said the statement.
Commenting on the development, Anastasios Dalgiannakis, head of trading at Mubasher Financial Services, told Gulf News, "IPOs of attractive assets are generally positive and helpful for the markets as they bring interesting investment opportunities."
He added: "The insurance segment in the region is a growth area and the new players are trying to tap opportunities in the market."
Rami Sidani, head of Middle East and North Africa (Mena) portfolio management at Schroders, previously told Gulf News that "there will be an appetite for any good company that comes to the market with reasonable valuations."
Successful offering
Another insurance company, Insurance House, which recently completed a successful IPO, plans to do the public listing of its shares in May.
"We are confident that this IPO will be successful and re-ignite capital market participation in the UAE," Arif Esmail Al Khoury, Chairman of the Founders Committee of Watania and managing director of ADNIF, said in the statement.
