Leading and pioneering exchange house in the UAE, Al Ansari Financial services has decided to float on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) after offering 750 million of its shares, representing 10% of its issued share capital, through an IPO.
The Qualified Investor Offer subscription period is expected to run from March 16, 2023 to March 24, 2023. The UAE Retail Offer subscription period is expected to run from March 16 2023 to March 23, 2023.
Listing on the DFM is anticipated to occur on or around April 6, 2023.
Following the Global Offering, the company intends to adopt a semi-annual dividend distribution policy and to pay dividends twice each fiscal year after the Global Offering, in April and October of each year.
The company is targeting to pay a minimum dividend of AED600 million ($163.35 million) with respect to 2023 earnings with the first half of the payment being made in October 2023 and the second half of the payment being made in April 2024.
Dividend pay-out
A minimum dividend pay-out ratio of at least 70% of the net profit generated (paid semi-annually) is expected going forward.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), EFG-Hermes UAE Limited (EFG Ltd) acting in conjunction with EFG Hermes UAE (EFG LLC and together with EFG Ltd, "EFG-Hermes") and Emirates NBD Capital PSC (ENBD Capital) have been appointed as joint global coordinators. Emirates NBD Bank has been appointed as the Lead Receiving Bank.
Essential role
Mohammad Ali Al Ansari, Chairman of Al Ansari Finance Services, said: “Since the founding of our first company Al Ansari Exchange in 1966, Al Ansari Financial Services has been playing an essential role in the mobility of money within and outside the UAE. We are proud to be a crucial part of residents’ and tourists’ lives. We are also equally proud to be the trusted partner to local businesses and international institutions, supporting their cross-border money transfer, currency exchange and end-to-end cash management requirements.
“Today, we are one of the leading integrated financial services groups in the UAE with a comprehensive offering. Furthermore, our customer-first and solutions-oriented mindset has enabled us to successfully scale the business and provide high-quality offerings that exceed customer expectations.
“Our strong track record of successful growth underpinned by the trust we have built with our customers, partners and the CBUAE, as well as the Central Bank of Kuwait, has culminated in this milestone moment. We believe Al Ansari Financial Services is ready to become a publicly listed company and to offer investors a unique investment opportunity with significant exposure to a region that is expected to witness robust growth in the mid-term.”
Leading position
Rashed Ali Al Ansari, Group Chief Executive Officer of Al Ansari Financial Services, said: “Al Ansari Financial Services’ dominant and growing physical presence across the UAE and its leading position in the outward personal remittances and retail foreign currency market set us apart from other exchange houses. The broad spectrum of customers we service through in-person or digital channels provides us with an edge over other players in the market providing similar services.
“Our success today is underpinned by our reliable, scalable and digitally enabled operations as well as our team of experts. Moreover, we have an extensive global exchange network through developing our own money transfer operator, leveraging the longstanding relationship with global correspondent banks and other key partners.
“As a market leader with an agile and CAPEX-light business model, which enables us to generate strong growth with limited investment capital requirements, and a very healthy cash profile, we believe we can harness favourable market trends in the UAE and across the GCC. Those organic growth drivers include an increase in the number of tourists, continued population growth with a large expatriate community. Furthermore, we are well positioned to capitalise on the strong macroeconomic backdrop with the UAE and other GCC economies which are expected to expand at a healthy pace in the mid-term.
Growth strategy
“We have a well-defined growth strategy that we expect to enable us to further increase our market leadership and physical dominance at home and to grow our presence in other markets. We also plan to continue to invest in our digital capabilities and customer touchpoints to ensure we provide superior service to our loyal and growing customer base.
“Listing our shares on the DFM is a natural next step in our growth journey and will allow us to further boost our credibility with our key stakeholders. We believe that this is the right time to present investors with an opportunity to join us on our new and exciting chapter and look forward to welcoming new shareholders to the group.”-- TradeArabia News Service
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