Dubai: the size of the retail investor offering in the ongoing Spinneys' IPO process has been raised to 7 per cent from 5 per cent. This means these investors will get access to 63 million shares from the earlier 45 million shares.
Such an addition was widely expected, according to market and banking industry sources. The retail investor tranche in the subscription closed yesterday (April 29). That for institutional investors will do so today, and Spinneys is set to announce the final offer price tomorrow.
The stock price range is set between Dh1.42 and Dh1.53 a share, implying a market cap of between Dh5.11 billion and Dh5.51 billion.
The total size of the offer, however, remains unchanged at 900 million shares, representing 25 per cent of the company’s total issued share capital. The DFM listing is set for May 9.
Following the increased allocation to the retail side, those for institutional investors drop to 837 million shares, instead of 855 million.
Of recent UAE IPOs, those from Parkin and Dubai Taxi Co. also went in for higher retail investor portions. Both were heavily over-subscribed.
"The increase by Spinneys continues to demonstrate the robust demand from retail investors, which is compelling in itself from a macro perspective," said Sameer Lakhani, Managing Director at Global Capital Partners. "For Spinneys, it’s yet another validation of the soundness of their business model and the IPO pricing. It augurs well for the stock's performance in the secondary market - as well as other private sector businesses (wanting to go public)."
Who's next?
Now that Spinneys is in the final lap of its float, the guessing game has started on which will be the next UAE IPO. So far this year, there have been two, Parkin and Spinneys. There has been intense speculation about the LuLu Group plans, with many expecting a June date. So far, Lulu, the hypermarket operator, has not confirmed any timelines.
