Reuters reported that Aluminum Bahrain priced initial public share offer at the bottom of the indicated range having attracted just enough demand for all the shares offered by sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat which raised USD 338 million.
Mumtalakat which holds the state's interests in non oil related companies said that the institutional tranche was priced at BHD 0.90 per ordinary share at the bottom of the BHD to 0.90 to BHD 1.25 range. It sold 142 million ordinary shares that will be listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange and 14.6 million global depositary receipts at USD 11.97 each that will be listed in London.
Mumtalakat which sold 10% stake in the offer could have risen up to BHD 204 million had the IPO been priced at the top of the range and had banks exercised their additional green shoe option.
The Gulf Arab IPO market has returned to life in recent weeks after a virtual 2 year standstill but sellers are not getting an easy ride. Omani telecom operator Nawras NWRS.OM also priced its IPO in October at the lower end of its price range due to subdued interest from the retail market. Also last month Saudi based contractor Al Khodari and Sons Company had to cut its retail tranche for the first time ever in a Saudi IPO after it was only 83% covered.
Mr Shakeel Sarwar head of asset management at Bahrain based Securites & Investment Company said that "It appears that the reception from retail investors has been lukewarm. The process for retail investors was slightly complicated in terms of access and logistics. Most institutional investors had expressed interest only in a 0.90-1 dinar price range.
He said that ALBA is a very good company but the risk that investors are taking is its listing on Bahrain Stock Exchange it does not have a very good track record.
（Sourced from Reuters）
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