Abu Dhabi bourse plan to attract 10 new listings facing challenges

ADX is offering sweeteners that include flexibility on the minimum stake size required for share sales and promising to reduce or forgo listing fees. (Shutterstock)

• The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), owned by wealth fund ADQ, is reaching out to state-run firms and family-owned companies

RIYADH: Abu Dhabi is dangling incentives to revive initial public offerings after a dry spell of nearly four years that defied the rally in the global stock market.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), owned by wealth fund ADQ, is reaching out to state-run firms and family-owned companies, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the process.
ADX is offering sweeteners that include flexibility on the minimum stake size required for share sales and promising to reduce or forgo listing fees, Bloomberg said.
The inducements have been enough to get the bourse’s pipeline humming with deals. ADX Chairman Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Al-Hammadi has said it may see at least 10 new listings this year, which would be the most on record.
With trading volumes in local equities already suffering from lower oil prices, corporate governance in the UAE has also been in the spotlight for investors in the wake of accounting scandals, delistings in Dubai and the experience of large companies such as builder Arabtec Holding, which entered liquidation in 2020. The Abu Dhabi exchange has not had an IPO since Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. for Distribution started trading in 2017.