Oil Drilling Firm Ades Set For One Of The Biggest Saudi IPOs Of 2023

ADES Holding, an oil and gas drilling services provider, is headed to the Saudi stock exchange in an initial public offering of 30% of its share capital in what could be one of the largest IPOs in Saudi Arabia this year.

ADES Holding is backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and has ADES Investments Holding and Zamil Group Investment as its major shareholders.

The shareholders of the oil and gas driller, which is active in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, now plan to sell 338,718,754 ordinary shares in the planned IPO, ADES in a statement carried by Reuters. The share sale will mean that 30% in ADES’ stock capital will be traded on the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul.

The IPO could bring in more than $1 billion, according to sources who spoke to Reuters at the end of last year.

ADES International spent time as a listed company on the London Stock Exchange between 2017 and 2021. PIF and the ADES shareholders took the driller private in 2021 in deal that valued the firm at some $516 million.

“Our IPO will support us in continuing to deliver growth and cement our position as the leader in the jack-up drilling market in Saudi Arabia and globally,” ADES Chairman Ayman Abbas said in a statement carried by Reuters.

According to Bloomberg, the price range per share in the IPO is expected to be announced on September 18, while the final price in the share offer will be communicated after a book-building process.

If carried out this year, ADES International’s IPO could become one of the biggest listings in Saudi Arabia in 2023, after a slower start to share sales in the Kingdom so far into this year, per Bloomberg’s estimates.

Share listings on the Saudi stock exchange have raised so far this year in total less than $900 million, down by 82% from last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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