EFG Hermes, the leading investment bank franchise in Frontier and Emerging Markets (FEM), announced today that its investment banking division successfully completed advisory on the $244 million initial public offering (IPO) of Abraj Energy Services (the “Company”), the oil and gas drilling unit of Oman's state energy company OQ, on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) – marking the largest Omani listing since 2010 and the second largest IPO on a Middle Eastern Exchange this year. EFG Hermes acted as joint global coordinator on the IPO alongside National Bank of Oman and Ahli Bank. The Company began trading today on the Muscat Stock Exchange.
Abraj Energy Services offered a total of 49% of its share capital, equivalent to 377,398,000 shares, at OMR 0.249 per share. The aforementioned IPO price indicates the top end of the bookbuilding range. Such pricing was determined on the basis of very strong oversubscription in the bookbuilding process. The IPO witnessed demand of OMR 791 million ($2.05 billion) for shares from local, regional, and international investors, with the total book approximately covered 8.7 times.
The offering included cornerstone investor participations from several leading local, regional, and international financial and strategic institutions. Cornerstone participations included: Oman’s Royal Court Affairs, the Saudi Omani Investment Company (a wholly owned entity of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Schlumberger Oman & Co.
Karim Meleka, Managing Director at EFG Hermes’ Investment Banking Division comments, “We are thrilled to be playing our part in promoting the Omani market by listing the first of several state-owned entities in what is now the largest IPO in Oman since 2010. We designed an equity story with the purpose of catering not only to the local investors, but to regional and international investors - the majority of whom were looking at Oman for the very first time. I am particularly proud of the interest we were able to generate from outside of Oman, which was just under $1bn.
''Equally important to the success of the offering was the strategic interest from the Royal Court Affairs, PIF and Schlumberger Oman who were cornerstones to the book build and we are honored to have played an instrumental role in delivering these names."
This transaction marks the investment banking team’s second IPO this year and is the latest of several landmark transactions EFG Hermes has advised on in 2022, having closed 12 ECM deals valued at USD 12.8 billion. Most recently, the team advised on ADNOC Gas plc’s $2.5 billion IPO on the ADX, marking the largest listing on the exchange to date.
In 2022, the division advised on the first cross listing between the ADX and Saudi Exchange in a deal worth $1.8 billion for Americana Restaurants International. It also concluded advisory on Taaleem’s $204 million IPO and Salik’s $1.0 billion listings on the DFM, as well as the $2.0 billion listing of Borouge, one of the world’s leading providers of innovative and differentiated polyolefin solutions. The division also advised on Ali Alghanim and Sons Automotive Company’s $323 million private placement ahead of its IPO on Boursa Kuwait.
