Middle East KFC franchisee Americana restaurants plans dual listing in UAE and Saudi Arabia

Americana Restaurants, the franchise company for KFC and Pizza Hut fast food restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa, has announced that it is going to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) with the next dual listing in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Adeptio Investments is an investment company jointly owned by a Dubai-based businessman and founder of Emaar Properties Mohammed Alabbar and the Saudi Arabian State Investment Fund. It is offering about 2.53 billion of existing shares of common stock, valued at 30% of the company, according to Americana’s filing with regulators.

Americana could become the first company whose shares are traded in both Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia after the Tadawul exchange pushed the firms towards dual listings for years.

The start of IPO will take place from 14 to 21 November for retail traders and investors in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and from 14 to 22 November for institutional investors.

Following the public sale of shares, the company is set to list on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange and the Saudi Stock Exchange on or about December 6th.

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Americana says it is targeting a partial dividend distribution of about 75% of its parent firm’s net income for the second half of this fiscal year, to be paid in cash over the first six months of next year.

Already from 2023, Americana plans to make an annual dividend policy, distributing at least 50% of the net profit attributable to the parent company, with the aim of further distributing cash not specifically reserved for general corporate purposes, growth investments, or merger activities and takeovers.

While regional equities have taken a hit and Saudi stocks briefly entered a bear market, IPOs continue at a brisk pace and issuers are in high demand to sell shares. Last month, the Saudi Arabian oilfield service company received enough orders for all of its offered shares within hours, while the Dubai toll operator raised $50 billion in orders for its $1 billion IPO.