Abu Dhabi's G42 company Bayanat plans to list a 22% stake on ADX

The IPO will make it the only listed geospatial intelligence company in the Middle East and North Africa region

Bayanat intends to list on the first market of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on October 31. Photo: ADX

Bayanat, a geospatial data products and services provider owned by Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company G42, plans to sell a 22.2 per cent stake, or 571.4 million shares, through an initial public offering as an increasing number of Gulf companies tap the capital markets for growth.

The subscription period for the listing will open on October 21 and close on October 25. The company intends to list on the first market of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on October 31 it said in a statement on Sunday.

Following the IPO, it will become the first and the only listed geospatial intelligence company in the Middle East and North Africa region.

“We are confident that the company is now strategically positioned to enter a new phase of growth with its planned listing on ADX as we look to deliver sustained shareholder value,” Tareq Al Hosani, chairman of the board of directors of Bayanat, said.

“We look to play a significant role in the UAE’s economic growth, as well as that of the region and globally. The promising commercial market for our advanced solutions is expected to grow exponentially within the next five years.”

The company’s IPO plans come as the number of listings continue to rise in the Mena as economies recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unlike capital markets in the US and Europe that have descended into bearish territory, the UAE has experienced a flurry of IPOs, with various government-owned companies listing.

Abu Dhabi’s healthcare provider Burjeel Holdings listed its shares on the ADX last week after raising more than Dh1.1 billion ($300 million) from an 11 per cent stake sale in the company’s IPO.

Other listings on the Abu Dhabi bourse this year include Borouge, the joint venture between Adnoc and Austrian chemicals producer Borealis, and Abu Dhabi Ports Group, the operator of industrial cities and free zones in the emirate.

Nine companies listed on the ADX last year include Adnoc Drilling, Fertiglobe, the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia combined, Alpha Dhabi, the property and construction company owned by IHC, and Yahsat, the satellite operator owned by Mubadala Investment Company.

Abu Dhabi’s LuLu Group International is also planning to launch an IPO next year, a company representative said this week.

ADX, the Arab world's second-largest stock market, recorded a surge in liquidity and foreign investment in 2021 on the back of new listings, anchoring it as one of the world’s best-performing equity gauges in 2021.

IPOs propelled the market value of the ADX to more than Dh2.2 trillion as of the close of trading on Friday.

Last year, Abu Dhabi also announced a Dh5bn IPO fund to help encourage and support private companies to list on the local stock market.

G42 acquired Bayanat in 2020. Bayanat was born out of the commercialisation of the UAE's Military Survey Department, a sector of the UAE Armed Forces. It provides national level mapping and geospatial products and services for both the public and private sectors in the UAE.

The company provides AI-powered geospatial intelligence to sectors such as defence, environment, energy and resources, smart cities and transportation, it said.

“We look forward to embarking on a new era of our growth as a listed company on ADX and are confident that this opportunity will provide further impetus to Bayanat’s established market position,” Hasan Al Hosani, chief executive of Bayanat, said.

G42 will continue to own a 77 per cent stake in Bayanat after the listing.

Bayanat recorded a 48 per cent annual increase in revenue to Dh366.7m for the fiscal year 2021, compared with Dh247.8m for 2020. Revenue for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2022, hit Dh490.6m, a 101 per cent growth year on year, the statement said.

The Mena market recorded a 500 per cent annual increase in the number of listings during the first six months of this year, with 24 IPOs raising $13.5bn, according to an EY report on the region's IPOs. In the second quarter of 2022, nine IPOs raised about $9bn.

The UAE was the biggest IPO market in terms of the aggregate value of deals, while Saudi Arabia led volume with five IPO deals in the first six months of the year, according to the EY data.