Bayanat shares surge on ADX trading debut

Company's share price quadrupled to intraday high of $1.22 on the first trading day

Bayanat's trading debut on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange began on Monday. Photo: ADX

The shares of Bayanat AI, a geospatial data products and services provider owned by Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company G42, quadrupled above its listing price on Monday as the company made its debut on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

The shares, which began trading under the ticker symbol “BAYANAT”, rose 309 per cent to an intraday high of Dh4.50 ($1.22).

They settled 272 per cent above the listing price at Dh4.10 at the close of trading. The price of the offering was set at Dh1.10 per ordinary share.

Bayanat’s initial public offering will support the company’s strategy of investing in research and development and exploring inorganic growth opportunities, it said in a statement on Monday.

“We will now focus on further strengthening our AI solutions powered by our geospatial technology, international expansion, inorganic growth and new JVs creation and partnerships,” Hasan Al Hosani, chief executive of Bayanat, said.

“We are confident that listing on ADX will deliver the increased investment, support and profile we need to achieve these ambitions.”

The offering attracted significant demand from investors, with gross demand amounting to more than Dh57.5 billion ($15.7bn) — an oversubscription of 379 times excluding cornerstone investors and 90 times on aggregate.

After the IPO, Bayanat became the first and only listed geospatial intelligence company in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Private equity company Silver Lake — which manages more than $92bn in combined assets and has taken up stakes in some of the world's best-known technology companies, including Airbnb, Chinese payments firm Ant Financial, Expedia Group and Twitter — is a cornerstone investor.

International Holding Company, the most valuable business listed on the Abu Dhabi bourse, is also a cornerstone investor in the Bayanat IPO.

G42 acquired Bayanat in 2020. The company was born out of the commercialisation of the UAE's Military Survey Department, a sector of the Armed Forces.

It provides national-level mapping and geospatial products and services for both the public and private sectors in the UAE.

Bayanat's IPO comes after a flurry of listings in the UAE and wider region, where investor demand has been strong as economies rebound at a quicker pace from the coronavirus-induced slowdown and liquidity has been shored up by high oil prices.

Various government-owned companies have gone public in the UAE and private companies are now following suit.

This month, Abu Dhabi healthcare provider Burjeel Holdings listed its shares on the ADX after raising more than Dh1.1bn from an 11 per cent stake sale in the company’s IPO.

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

The number of listings in the Mena market increased sixfold during the first six months of this year, with 24 IPOs raising $13.5bn, according to an EY report on the region. In the second quarter of 2022, nine IPOs raised about $9bn.