Supermarket chain Spinneys’ $375m IPO draws orders worth $19bn

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Supermarket chain Spinneys’ franchisee in the UAE and Oman (Spinneys 1961 Holding) has attracted $19bn in investor orders for its initial public offering (IPO) on the Dubai bourse.

Spinneys 1961 priced its IPO at the top of the previously announced range, selling its shares at Dhs1.53 per share to raise $375m (Dhs1.38bn), amid robust investor demand, which saw the offering oversubscribed by 64 times.

The strong investor demand shows that the appetite for listings in the Middle East remains healthy even as IPOs elsewhere struggle to gain traction.

The pricing of Dhs1.53 per share implies a market valuation of around $1.5bn (Dhs5.51bn) at listing. The company is offering 900 million shares, equivalent to 25 per cent of its total issued share capital.

“Driven by the expansion of our store network, increasing online penetration and our vertically integrated supply chain, we have a strong track record of financial performance, with resilient like-for-like growth and strong margins,” said Sunil Kumar, the CEO of Spinneys.

Spinneys is expected to debut on the Dubai Financial Markets on May 9. The company’s IPO attracted two cornerstone investors in Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC), the strategic investment arm of Abu Dhabi-based National Holding, and Franklin Templeton.

Cornerstone investors committed to taking up an aggregate $75m in the offering.

Spinneys, which is owned by the Al Bwardy family, operates 75 premium grocery retail supermarkets under the ‘Spinneys’, ‘Waitrose’ and ‘Al Fair’ brands in Oman and the UAE, where it plans to open new stores this year. It also plans to expand into Saudi Arabia this year and open stores in Riyadh and Jeddah.

The strong demand for Spinneys bodes well for other privately-held firms that may be weighing IPOs in the UAE, according to a Bloomberg report. The UAE has seen a wave of listings since late 2021, but the vast majority have been state-owned companies.

Read: Here’s why the GCC IPO bonanza is here to stay