EFG Hermes announced on Saturday that it completed advisory on the $210.5m (AED 773m) initial public offering (IPO) of Al Ansari Financial Services (AAFS) — one of the UAE’s leading integrated financial services groups specializing in the money transfer and exchange business — on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).
EFG Hermes acted as joint global coordinator on the transaction, marking the Firm’s fourth joint global coordinator role in the last six months, with others including Taaleem’s $204m IPO on the DFM and The Pearl REIF’s $60.6m IPO on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) in November 2022, in addition to Abraj Energy’s $244m IPO on the MSX in March 2023.
The listing saw AAFS offer a total of 10% of its share capital, equivalent to 750,000,000 shares, at a nominal value of AED 1.03/share — implying a market capitalization of AED 7.73bn ($2.1bn). The offering was 22x oversubscribed and was priced at the higher end of the announced price range.
The IPO was comprised of a Qualified Investor Offering, which generated strong demand worth AED 10.2bn from both international and regional investors, and a UAE Retail Offering, which generated demand worth AED 2.5bn.
AAFS is one of the leading UAE-based integrated financial service groups, boasting over 50 years of experience in the money transfer and exchange business. Today, the family-owned group has built a specialized financial ecosystem that provides cross-border payments, foreign currency exchange solutions, and access to the Wage Protection System (WPS) in the UAE, among other services including bill collections and pre-paid cards, as well as payment technology solutions to consumers and businesses in the rapidly growing payments and foreign currency exchange and remittance market in the country.