Al Ansari IPO: UAE money exchange draws $3.45bn in orders for $210m offering

Company will start trading on the Dubai Financial Market on April 6

Al Ansari Exchange at the Mall of Emirates in Dubai. Satish Kumar / The National

Al Ansari Financial Services, the UAE foreign exchange and money transfer company, drew Dh12.7 billion ($3.45 billion) in bids for its initial public offering that ended on Friday.

The offering raised Dh773 million for the company from the sale of a 10 per cent stake in the IPO with the global offering oversubscribed 22 times on average, the Dubai Media Office said on Monday.

The UAE retail offer, which was increased from 5 per cent to 7.5 per cent of the total offering size, received "very high demand" and was oversubscribed by roughly 44 times.

The company sold 750 million shares and set the final share price at Dh1.03, the higher end of its offer range that was between Dh1 and Dh1.03 a share, implying a market capitalisation of Dh7.73 billion ($2.1 billion) at listing.

National Bonds Corporation — owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the investment arm of the Dubai government — committed to a cornerstone investment worth Dh200 million in the IPO.

Emirates Investment Authority is entitled to subscribe to up to 5 per cent of the offering, and the percentage of shares which it may purchase will be allocated before they are allotted to any other qualified investors.

Al Ansari expects to distribute a minimum dividend of Dh600 million for the 2023 financial year, implying a minimum dividend yield of 7.77 per cent to 8 per cent.

The first half of the dividend payment will be made in October 2023 and the second half in April 2024.

Al Ansari expects to start trading on the Dubai Financial Market on April 6.

“Through this IPO and as a publicly listed company, we are offering investors an opportunity to be part of a business that has significant growth opportunities driven by the UAE and other GCC countries’ favourable macroeconomic and industry trends," said Rashed Al Ansari, group chief executive of Al Ansari Financial Services.

“Moreover, as a publicly listed company, we intend to further build credibility and increase transparency with existing stakeholders, as well as attract new partners and enter new markets with greater confidence and ease. It will also give us the acquisition currency we need to realise our regional growth ambitions."

Al Ansari's IPO also comes amid a flurry of listings in the Gulf region and Dubai, which plans to bolster the size of its capital markets.

Middle East IPOs raised more than $23 billion in 2022, compared with $7.52 billion from 20 offerings in the previous year.

That was the highest share for the Gulf region after 2019, when Saudi Aramco went public in a $29 billion offering, the world’s largest.

Al Ansari Exchange was set up about 60 years ago and has 231 branches throughout the UAE, offering exchange services, remittances, a system to pay domestic workers and savings plans.

The company opened its first exchange branch in the UAE in 1966 and also operates in Kuwait.

Al Ansari's IPO is part of a strategy to reposition the company for its next phase of growth, with proceeds from the offering going to parent entity Al Ansari Holding.

The UAE is the second-largest outward personal remittances market globally, with a total value of $48 billion, Al Ansari said earlier this month, citing a report by Edgar, Dunn and Company.

Al Ansari registered 22 million personal remittance transactions last year, with the money remitted increasing by 4.8 per cent to Dh737 million in 2022, compared with the previous year.

The company expects digital transactions to account for about a fifth of overall personal outward remittance transactions by 2027, up from 15 per cent in 2022.

Al Ansari believes exchange houses will continue to play a significant role, given the large and growing low-income resident population that is unbanked.

The company's net profit grew by 21 per cent to Dh595 million in 2022, compared with the previous year, and was up 59 per cent on its 2020 results.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, EFG-Hermes and Emirates NBD managed Al Ansari's IPO.