Dubai: As was widely expected, Americana Restaurants International has increased the size of the UAE retail offer for its IPO, from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. This makes it equal to the Saudi retail offer.
The Saudi retail offer remains untouched, at 10 per cent of the overall issue size, while that for institutional investors will reduce from 85 per cent to 80 per cent. Americana - the biggest F&B operator in the region by some distance - has retained the overall size of the float at 30 per cent.
"It was more or less certain Americana would look to raise the retail investor tranche - and bringing it to be on par as in Saudi Arabia is one good move," said an analyst. "Despite the series of IPOs in recent weeks, both in UAE and Saudi Arabia, retail buyer demand for Americana will hold its own."
The price range has been set at Dh2.50-Dh2.62 (SR2.55-SR2.68), implying an equity value of $5.73 billion to $6.01 billion. The final offer price is to be announced on November 23.
