Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Netherlands-listed OCI backed Fertiglobe’s shares surged as much as 20 percent on its first day of trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).
The company’s shares jumped to as high as $0.83, above their earmarked $0.69, giving Fertiglobe a market value of $6.9 billion.
Fertiglobe, the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia, raised $795 million in its initial public offering and it marks the third-largest listing on the ADX. The share offering received orders in excess of $17.4 billion and was 22 times oversubscribed. The IPO’s qualified investor tranche, excluding cornerstone investors, was 32 times oversubscribed.
Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber Group CEO – ADNOC Chairman – Fertiglobe
“The success of Fertiglobe’s IPO, which is the first listing of a free zone company on an onshore stock exchange in the UAE, underscores ADNOC’s prominent role in supporting the growth and diversification of the UAE’s economy and strengthening Abu Dhabi’s increasingly vibrant capital market. With operations across MENA and a global customer base, Fertiglobe’s listing is expected to elevate Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a key destination for foreign direct investment, in line with the UAE’s ‘Principles of the 50’. This is another milestone in ADNOC’s value creation and maximization strategy, offering domestic and international investors access to growth opportunities in clean ammonia and the emerging hydrogen economy.”
The company, which is also the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s largest producer of nitrogen fertilizers by production capacity, sold more than 1.145 billion shares representing 13.8 percent of its share capital.
Fertiglobe attracted three cornerstone investors with commitments of $231 million. They include the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and San Francisco-based activist investor Inclusive Capital Partners. OCI will continue to have the majority stake in Fertiglobe, with ADNOC holding on to 36.2 percent of the share capital.
Fertiglobe plans to increase its dividend to $200 million, from $150 million, with the payout for the second half of the current financial year due in April 2022.
The company expects to distribute a dividend of at least $400 million, up from $315 million in the financial year ending December 2022. Fertiglobe will pay half of the dividend amount in October 2022, with the remainder scheduled to be paid in April 2023. Fertiglobe’s trading ticker is “Fertiglobe” and the International Securities Identification Numbering (Isin) code is “AEF000901015”.
