Bahrain’s GFH to start trading on ADX from May 31

The listing on the Abu Dhabi bourse will be the company’s fourth in the region

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. GFH's move to list on the bourse is expected to boost liquidity in its shares. Photo: ADX

Bahrain-based investment bank GFH Financial Group will begin to trade its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on May 31.

The cross-listing will be the company’s fourth in the region. The investment bank is currently listed in Bahrain, Dubai and Kuwait.

The move is expected to further improve liquidity in GFH’s shares and allow the group to gain access to a broader base of retail and institutional investors on the Abu Dhabi bourse.

Shareholders who are interested in transferring their shares must open a trading account with ADX and submit an official share transfer request to Bahrain Clearing Company before May 31 to commence trading on the bourse, the company said on Monday in a statement to Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.

The number of listings on the ADX, the Arab world’s second-biggest stock market, continued to grow amid growing investor appetite as the UAE's economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic on the back of higher oil prices and government measures.

Borouge, the joint venture between Adnoc and Austrian chemicals producer Borealis, is the latest company preparing to list its shares on the ADX.

The company is selling about 3 billion shares to the public and plans to raise $2bn from its initial public offering.

Other companies such as Abu Dhabi Ports, Yahsat, Adnoc Drilling and Fertiglobe also listed their shares on the Abu Dhabi stock market.

The bourse could host 13 more listings before the end of this year as it seeks to hit a market value of Dh3 trillion ($816.7bn), ADX chairman Mohammed Al Shorafa told Sky News Arabia in March.

The new listings will include four companies from outside the UAE while others will be government and family companies, he said.

GFH has an investment portfolio that spans the Middle East, the US, the UK and Asia in a number of sectors, including health care, education and logistics.

The company reported an 18.5 per cent jump in its first-quarter net profit to $19.11 million as impairment allowances fell and investment banking income rose amid the global economic recovery.

Earlier this year, GFH formed a new subsidiary, Infracorp, by spinning off its infrastructure and property assets to focus more on financial assets.

Infracorp will manage an asset portfolio worth about $3 billion, which includes land in the Gulf, North Africa and South Asia.

The investment bank this month acquired a majority stake in Atlanta-based SQ Asset Management as it continues to boost the size of its portfolio globally.