Americana, Luberef IPO managers set to share $74m in fees

Banks including Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley and First Abu Dhabi Bank are set to share about a combined $74.3m in fees for working on the IPOs of Americana Restaurants International and Saudi Aramco Base Oil Co.

Americana, the Middle Eastern operator of KFC and Pizza Hut outlets, is paying SAR194.4m ($51.7m) in overall fees for its dual-listing in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. That’s about 2.9 per cent in offering expenses for the $1.8bn IPO.

Saudi Aramco Base Oil, a refining unit of the state-owned oil producer and also known as Luberef, is paying SAR85m, or about 1.7 per cent in fees for its $1.32bn offering.

That compares with a $97m payout banks including Citigroup, HSBC and Emirates NBD were offered for underwriting the $6.1bn IPO of Dubai Electricity & Water Authority in April. Underwriting fees in the Middle East tend to be lower than in other markets such as the US, where banks can earn around 5 per cent of deal value for an IPO.

Americana and Luberef IPOs take the proceeds of Gulf listings this year to over $20bn, an amount that would be an annual record if it weren’t for 2019 when Aramco raised almost $30bn. The region now accounts for about half of all IPO proceeds in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Americana IPO managers:
* First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley and SNB Capital were joint financial advisers, global coordinators and bookrunners for the IPO. HSBC Holdings and EFG Hermes were also bookrunners.
* Trading debut in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh on December 12

Luberef IPO managers:
* SNB Capital, Morgan Stanley, HSBC Holdings and Citigroup are the joint financial advisers, global coordinators and bookrunners for the IPO, which opens to retail investors from December 14 to 18.