The UAE’s supermarket chain Lulu Retail Holding (Lulu) has raised Dh6.32 billion ($1.72 billion) in its initial public offering on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).
Lulu priced its offering at Dh2.04 UAE dirhams ($0.56) per share, at the top of the announced range, implying a market capitalisation of Dh21.1 billion.
The success of the listing makes it the largest UAE IPO of 2024 to date.
The offering achieved an aggregate demand of more than Dh135 billion ($37 billion) from local, regional, and international investors, and was oversubscribed by more than 25 times across all tranches, excluding cornerstone investors.
“We’re extremely proud to see such strong demand for the Lulu Retail IPO, which raised over $1.72 billion and saw total aggregate demand of c. $37 billion, a sign that investors share our passion and excitement for the Company,” said Saifee Rupawala, Chief Executive Officer of Lulu Retail.
“We look forward to rewarding the trust shown by investors in Lulu and remain confident we will achieve our guidance targets in 2024 and beyond.”
Earlier this week, the supermarket giant expanded its share offering from 25% to 30%. The offer increase was a result of the “significant level of demand received from international, regional and local investors, and the inclusion of additional cornerstone investors to the IPO,” Bloomberg reported.
The company plans to distribute 75% of its annual distributable profits after tax as dividends, paid semi-annually. The first dividend for the six months ending December 31 2024 is expected in the first half of 2025.
Lulu will begin trading on ADX on Thursday, November 14, 2024, and is expected to become the stock exchange’s 100th listing.