Lulu boosts size of IPO to 30% on strong demand

Lulu Retail has boosted the size of its initial public offering in Abu Dhabi to 30 per cent of its shares, up from 25 per cent, on strong demand and an additional cornerstone investor.
The total offering size has been increased to 3,098,671,605 ordinary shares, which are to be sold by the company’s sole shareholder, Lulu International Holdings, a statement on Monday said. The additional 516,445,267 shares have been allocated to professional investors.
The price range is unchanged at between Dh1.94 and Dh2.04 per share, with the company set to raise between Dh6.01 billion ($1.64 billion) and Dh6.32 billion. Lulu Retail is set to list with a market capitalisation of Dh20.04 billion to Dh21.07 billion.
The final offer price will be determined through a book-building process and is expected to be announced on November 6. The company expects to start trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on November 14.
“The established pan-GCC presence of Lulu Retail and our clear strategy for growth has attracted a highly diverse investor base and we’re pleased to increase the total size of the offering to cater to the significant level of demand received from international, regional and local investors, and the inclusion of additional cornerstone investors to the IPO,” said Saifee Rupawala, chief executive of Lulu Retail.
The new cornerstone investor is Saudi Arabia’s Masarrah Investment, which joins Abu Dhabi Pension Fund, Bahrain’s Mumtalakat, Emirates International Investment Company and the Oman Investment Authority.
Masarrah Investment has agreed to invest about Dh250 million and the aggregate commitments of all the cornerstone investors are about Dh1 billion, Lulu said.
More to follow …