Adnoc to sell 15 pct stake in logistics, shipping unit in Abu Dhabi IPO

Abu Dhabi’s main energy company will sell a 15 percent stake in its logistics and shipping unit in an initial public offering, kicking off the second listing of one of its businesses this year.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. will offer about 1.11 billion shares in Adnoc Logistics & Services, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The company will announce the price range and start taking investor orders on May 16, with final pricing slated for May 25.

Shares in Adnoc Logistics are expected to begin trading on June 1, according to the statement.

The share sale comes just a few months after state-owned Adnoc raised $2.5 billion in the listing of its gas business, currently the world’s second-biggest IPO of the year so far.

The Gulf has remained a relatively busy IPO market amid a global slump. Still, oil prices have come off their highs reached last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and fears of a recession and bank failures in the US have recently put pressure on the commodity, which strongly influences Gulf stock markets.

About $3.5 billion has been raised so far in 2023 through listings in the Middle East — the bulk of it in Abu Dhabi, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s down sharply from the $11.4 billion fetched by this time last year, as markets like Saudi Arabia have remained quiet and there haven’t been any privatizations in Dubai, which helped boost volumes in 2022.

The company has been expanding its fleet to cope with increased demand from growth in the state-owned firm’s upstream and downstream businesses. It recently signed a five-year contract with Adnoc Offshore to provide integrated logistics services including port services and warehouse operations.

First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, EFG Hermes UAE LLC and HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd. are joint lead managers for the IPO.