The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), commonly referred to as the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, is expecting to see an increase in listings in the current year. This comes despite the global economic scenario which is grappling with high inflation and rising interest rates. Hisham Khalid Malak, the chairman of the ADX, has stated that the exchange has a healthy pipeline of initial public offerings (IPOs) and listings and aspires to surpass the number of listings from the previous year.
According to the chairman, the global economy is “starting to look better than expected, with a soft landing now forecast in the United States” and Europe is also showing signs of improvement, while China is opening up. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange saw five IPOs, two dual listings, six exchange-traded funds, one blank-cheque company, and one secondary market listing in the previous year. The secondary market listing connected investors with smaller privately owned businesses.
This year, companies such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s gas business and Lulu Group International, a supermarket chain based in Abu Dhabi, are planning to list on the exchange. The Gulf region emerged as a favorable destination for public share sales in the previous year, owing to high oil prices and government-led privatisation programs. The ADX, with a market capitalisation of around $714 billion, registered a 20% gain for its equities index in the previous year and outperformed global markets.
The exchange is actively working on expanding partnerships with other exchanges and increasing its institutional investor base, which increased by 12% in the previous year with participants from the top 25 global asset management firms. A $1.4 billion IPO fund launched by the emirate to attract companies to list is also contributing to the growth of the exchange. The chairman stated that the exchange has seen opportunities in various sectors, including technology, and is working with these companies to help them structure their business for an IPO, if they choose.
