Adnoc Distribution shares surge on ADX debut

Fuel retailer Adnoc Distribution shares surged on their first day of trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), as retail investors piled into the emirate’s first stock listing in over six years.

Shares in the retail arm of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) – priced last week at Dh2.5 – surged by 16 per cent in the first minute of Wednesday trading, before paring gains throughout the day to close up 6 per cent at Dh2.65.

“There was no major sell-offs on the first day indicating that those that subscribed to the IPO see it as a long-term investment,” said Khaldoun Jaradat, trading manager at Ansari Financial Services.

“There’ll likely be a bit of more buy for the investors who weren’t able to participate in the IPO on Thursday, before things settle down next week.”

Adnoc Distribution’s IPO – the first share offering in an Adnoc subsidiary – raised Dh3.1 billion, valuing the company at around Dh31.3bn. The retail portion of the offering was oversubscribed by 22 times, on the back of significant local interest.

“Transactions such as this IPO will allow Adnoc to better manage our capital and portfolio of assets, and expand our range of new and existing partnerships – from the upstream to the downstream,” said Adnoc Group chief executive Dr Sultan Al Jaber in a statement.