Mubasher: Americana Restaurants International plans to proceed with the initial public offering (IPO) to list and trade its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) through a concurrent dual listing process.

Adeptio Investments AD, the selling shareholder, would offer 2.52 billion existing ordinary shares of Americana Restaurants, representing 30% of the total issued share capital, according to a press release.

The offering period is expected to take place during 14-21 November 2022 for retail investors in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, yet it will close on 22 November 2022 for institutional investors.

Meanwhile, the ADX and Tadawul trading admission is forecast to be on or around 6 December 2022.

Furthermore, the selling shareholder will receive the net proceeds of the IPO.

Adeptio, which is a jointly-held investment vehicle between Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar, founder of Emaar Properties, and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), holds 96% of Americana Restaurants’ total issued share capital.

Alabbar, Chairman of Americana, said: “A concurrent dual listing on ADX and the Saudi Exchange marks a first-of-its-kind transaction for both markets.”

He added: “With macroeconomic and demographic tailwinds that support our accelerating growth, this is an exciting time to be inviting investors in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and internationally to share in our onward journey of success.”

It is worth mentioning that Americana Restaurants was previously operated by Kuwait Food Company (Americana) under the Americana umbrella, which included both restaurant and food businesses. The IPO for ADX and Tadawul listing is related to the restaurant business only.

On 31 October 2022, the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) approved Americana Restaurants’ application for the concurrent and dual Saudi Arabia and UAE registration and the offering of the potential shares.