Dubai — Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) raised $935 million from an additional 5.5% sale of shares in its drilling unit to institutional investors, it said in a statement on Thursday.
The transaction, which was announced on Wednesday, constitutes a sale of 880 million shares priced at 3.90 dirhams, at a 5.6% discount to the closing price of 4.13 dirhams on May 22.
It follows ADNOC Drilling’s IPO more than two years ago, when the company priced shares at 2.3 dirhams a piece, raising $1.1 billion. The stock soared about 30% on its debut.
ADNOC said the transaction will increase the drilling unit’s free float to 16.5% and stands as the biggest accelerated bookbuild of a publicly listed company in the UAE.
The energy firm will retain a majority 78.5% shareholding in its drilling unit and has agreed to a restriction from selling further shares for a period of six months, the statement said.
Increasing ADNOC Drilling’s free float is expected to lead to the company’s inclusion in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Market Index, ADNOC said. That could happen at the next quarterly index review subject to ADNOC Drilling meeting criteria, it added.
Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes (HRHO.CA), opens new tab, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB.AD), opens new tab, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Securities (JPM.N), opens new tab acted as joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the offering.
The settlement of the offering is expected to take place on or around May 28, ADNOC added.
($1 = 3.6726 UAE dirham)
South Africa is meant to be a poster child for the global energy transition.
*Yousef Saba, Rachna Uppal & Federico Maccioni – Reuters
