Abu Dhabi's G42 to launch IPO for second subsidiary, presight.ai, in Dh1.8b issue
presight.ai is a holding company for AI-related entities in the G42 portfolio
Dubai: The Abu Dhabi based G42 Group is launching an IPO for a second subsidiary – presight.ai – by offering 1.35 billion shares at Dh1.34 each for a Dh1.82 billion issue size. The stake sale represents 32 per cent of the company’s share capital, according to advertisement placed in the local media.
The presight.ai IPO subscription opens March 13 and runs until March 17.
Late last year, G42 – which has entrenched interests in multiple sectors based around high-tech did the IPO for Bayanat AI, its mobility solutions company with significant government contracts. The IPO, one of the few from a private sector enterprise in the UAE during 2022, was an instant success.
With presight.ai, G42 hopes to follow the same formula – offer up an entity that’s building an AI-linked portfolio of services with high commercial possibilities. After the IPO, the share capital of the entity will be Dh560.86 million (at 10 fils each).
The Bayanat AI shares were offered at Dh1.1. each. The stock is quoting Dh3.76 currently - and was the best-performing stock worldwide last year based on its first day showing.
Incidentally, the presight.ai subscription opens the same day as ADNOC Gas' listing on ADX, the biggest on the stock exchange to date.
"presight’s journey has evolved rapidly since inception, now positioned as the region’s leading big data analytics company powered by AI, trusted with country-level strategic mandates to drive digital transformation and innovation," said Mansoor Al Mansoori, Chairman. "Through our proprietary Transformative Analytics Quotient platform, presight is enabling insight-driven decision-making to unlock positive societal impact with omni-analytics and AI.”
Through our proprietary Transformative Analytics Quotient platform, presight is enabling insight-driven decision-making to unlock positive societal impact with omni-analytics and AI.
The presight.ai solutions were also deployed extensively in 'welcoming 24 million visitors safely to Expo 2020 Dubai'.
IHC as cornerstone investor
The Abu Dhabi investment giant IHC confirmed plans to invest in the presight AI Holding offering as a cornerstone investor. "The value of the investment will be disclosed to the market upon completing the IPO’s subscription application and subject to the regulatory approvals and completion of formalities," IHC said in a statement. IHC had done the same with Bayanat AI as well.
Who gets what in the IPO
In presight.ai’s IPO, retail investors have been assigned 168.39 million shares, representing 12.385 per cent of the total. The minimum application size is Dh5,000 and additional ones at Dh1,000 each.
Institutional and other ‘professional’ investors get to make a play for 1.19 billion shares, or 87.61 per cent of the issue size.
The other potential IPO talk revolves around Al Ansari, one of the biggest names in the local remittance business.
Spreading AI
presight.Ai itself operates as a holding company for 12 entities and was founded in 2020. Government contracts provide the company with clout. In 2020, “As COVID-19 became a global crisis, the Group used its solutions to support the government of UAE with analytics-driven pandemic management to keep its borders open,” the ad states.
“The Group is now the region’s leading Big Data analytics company powered by AI, with over 10 flagship technology solutions, more than 100 AI models, and clients in 3 continents…”
Our intention to list on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange is a key step in realizing our 5-year strategy to strengthen operational expertise, create meaningful headroom for inorganic growth, and expand our services into new markets and sectors globally. We have ambitious plans that leverage our solid historical growth and healthy pipeline of order bookings
Tech listings
presight.ai's entry will expand the universe of technology-focussed entities listed on UAE's stock markets. This is a space where private equity has had a significant role to play, but making the move to being publicly-owned is still the rare step. In the recent past, entities such as the Arabic music portal Anghami have opted for a Nasdaq listing, as did Swvl, a mass transit solutions provider headquartered in Dubai.
"The likes of Bayanat.AI and presight.ai are effectively seeding the UAE capital markets for technology IPOs in future," said an analyst. "There are a handful of potential candidates with sufficiently high valuations in fintech, cloud kitchen, and agritech operations that could seek to go public in the UAE. And successfully too."