Fertiglobe surges 20% in Abu Dhabi debut After $795m IPO

Fertiglobe surges 20% in Abu Dhabi debut After $795m IPO

Fertiglobe Holdings, the fertilizer maker backed by US hedge fund investor Jeff Ubben and a Singapore wealth fund, jumped 20 per cent on its trading debut following a $795m initial public offering. The shares opened at Dhs3.06 on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. State-controlled Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and OCI NV had sold just under 14 per cent of Fertiglobe at Dhs2.55 per share, valuing the company at $5.8bn. Fertiglobe’s listing is the emirate’s third largest. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Ubben’s Inclusive Capital Partners committed $150m between them to the deal. The IPO is the latest in a series of heavily-oversubscribed listings in the UAE and neighbouring Saudi Arabia. A surge in oil prices has boosted both economies and liquidity on their equity markets. Earlier in October, ADNOC’s drilling unit rose about 30 per cent on its trading debut after a $1.1bn IPO. In Riyadh, utility ACWA Power International got more than $300bn of orders for a $1.2bn listing. Fertiglobe is an important part of Abu Dhabi’s efforts to export hydrogen, a fuel seen as crucial to the global transition away from coal and oil. It operates four fertilizer and chemical plants in the UAE, Egypt and Algeria.