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Eugene Mayne, Group CEO at Tristar, is all set to drive the logistics company to a stock market float. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: Dubai's IPO market is going to see some action, with the logistics company Tristar Transport confirming plans to head for a share offering. Tristar expects to receive between $120 to $160 million of gross primary proceeds from the offering.

The offering, however, will be made available only to qualified investors. Five per cent of the offer will be reserved for Emirates Investment Authority. The shares are expected to be listed in April itself, subject to regulatory approvals.

"The offering is expected to be allocated to certain types of juridical persons and high networth individuals, with a minimum application size of Dh500,000," Tristar said in a statement.

In 2020, the Group had consolidated revenues of $453.4 million and an EBITDA of $103.6 million. Between 2018-20, it notched up a 12.4 per cent CAGR (compund annual growth rate) in operating cashflow and an EBITDA margin of between 20.1 per cent to 22.8.

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Headquartered in Dubai, the group has operations in 21 countries across three continents and has over 2,000 road transport assets and 35 maritime vessels. In addition, it operates 69 fuel farms and over 100 remote fuel sites.

The offer size is expected to represent up to 24 per cent of the total issued ordinary shares. The Offering is expected to comprise new shares and those shares to be sold by existing shareholders. Tristar expects to receive between $120 to $160 million of gross primary proceeds from the Offering.

The last IPO on DFM was from Al Mal Capital REIT, which raised Dh350 million in December last. It came after a three-year lull when there were no listings. In October, Dubai also announced a separate stock market for SMEs, called 'Nasdaq Dubai Growth Market'.

Sharia compliant
The Tristar offer could be declared Sharia-compliant, subject to confirmation by a Sharia Supervision Committee, on the date of the receipt of the net proceeds from the float. And upon the use of a portion of the proceeds to repay around Dh197 million in loans and payables due to related parties.

Tristar clients include international and national oil companies, and it has also been associated with inter-governmental organisations handling peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in remote geographies.

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Tristar launched in 1998 and now has an extensive logistics and transport network. Image Credit: Supplied
  1. If all of the offer shares are allocated, it will represent up to 24 per cent of the share base.
  2. The offer will comprise a primary issuance of 199 million new shares in addition to a secondary offering of up to 88.76 million existing shares.
  3. The existing shares are being offered by Agility Tristar SPV Ltd (of which Kuwait’s Agility Public Warehousing Company is the sole ultimate beneficial owner), Star Holdings (of which Gulf Investment Corporation is the sole ultimate beneficial owner), and Diamond SPV Limited (of which Eugene Mayne is the sole ultimate beneficial owner).
  4. These selling shareholders currently own 65.12%, 19.61%, and 15.27% of the shares.