Alpha Data raises $163m from Abu Dhabi IPO

The company's shares are expected to begin trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange next month

Alpha Data will trade on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol 'ALPHADATA'. Victor Besa / The National

UAE technology company Alpha Data has raised Dh600 million ($163 million) from its initial public offering on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, setting the price at the top of the range.

The company closed the books at Dh1.50 per share, which implies a market capitalisation of Dh408 million at the time of its listing, Alpha Data said on Wednesday.

Bin Hamoodah Company and Ibbini Investment, the selling shareholders, offered 400 million shares, which is 40 per cent of its issued share capital.

Alpha Data shares are expected to begin trading on the ADX on or around March 11 under the ticker symbol “ALPHADATA”, it said.

The company, which has a total issued share capital of Dh30 million, expects to distribute a dividend of Dh130 million in 2025.

The “strong demand” for Alpha Data's IPO is “a testament to the market’s confidence in our business model, strategic vision and our standing as a home-grown UAE family business”, Fayez Ibbini, founder and chief executive of Alpha Data, said.

Alpha Data, established in 1981, is the latest company seeking to sell shares to the public amid a listing boom driven by robust investor demand for new issues.

The company is seeking to tap into the technology boom in the UAE, where the government has continued to champion digital transformation and the adoption of emerging innovations as it transitions to the economy of the future.

The continued economic momentum in the UAE, the Arab world's second-largest economy, has also boosted listings across sectors on both the Abu Dhabi bourse and the Dubai Financial Market.

Alpha Data's planned listing follows a string of IPOs over the past year. Talabat Holding, the Middle Eastern unit of Germany's food delivery platform Delivery Hero, raised Dh7.5 billion in November in what was the Gulf's biggest IPO last year. Also that month, UAE retail major Lulu Group raised Dh6.32 billion.

Other UAE IPOs last year included NMDC Energy, a unit of Abu Dhabi contractor National Marine Dredging Company, raising $877 million, and Alef Education, which raised $515 million.

Analysts say the pipeline of IPO deals in the UAE remains strong amid robust expansion of the non-oil sector in the economy. The government's push to unlock value in state entities, and to sell stakes, is also supporting deal flows.

Dubai Investments, a diversified company in which the sovereign wealth fund Investment Corporation of Dubai holds a stake, last month said it plans to take four of its subsidiaries public.