ADX London roadshow showcases strength of Abu Dhabi’s markets

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has completed a London investor roadshow, hosting a delegation of over 25 senior executives from nine listed companies and the exchange.

Throughout the two-day event, the ADX delegation hosted 204 investor meetings across 47 one-on-one meetings and 37 group meetings, with a total of 89 institutional investors, including some of the world’s largest asset management firms in attendance, who collectively manage an aggregate of over $4 trillion in Assets Under Management (AUM).

This integral roadshow comes amidst a backdrop of significant and sustained activity on ADX which has seen increasingly growing demand and interest across its capital markets from international and institutional investors - including on IPOs, listings and new product launches. This stream of activity has led to ADX recently surpassing AED2 trillion market capitalisation target milestone to become the second-largest exchange in the Middle East.

The ADX delegation also demonstrated its ability to sustain its strong growth trajectory and the various strategic levers that are being activated as part of its strategy. These levers focus on increasing liquidity, trading activity, market capitalisation, and sector diversification while also remaining focused on digital transformation, the investor journey and introducing innovative products and services as part of its “ADX One” strategy.

Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ADX, said, “The well-attended roadshow and size of the ADX delegation is a clear example of the deep and growing international and institutional investor confidence in both Abu Dhabi as a premier investment destination and ADX as the hub for regional participation of institutional and international capital. This is evident through the robust demand our recent IPO pipeline and listings have continued to attract.”

Abdulfattah Sharaf, CEO of HSBC UAE and Head of International Middle East, commented, “The UAE economy is a hub of market activity across the Middle East, as evidenced by the past year’s boom in IPO listings across the country. Despite ongoing global challenges, the UAE economy has been resilient and that is reflected in surging demand from investors seeking access to this rapidly-emerging market.”

ADX’s recent initiatives to foster and attract international investors continue to bear fruit, with institutional investors trading values (buy + sell) increasing by 83 percent from Dhs93 billion in Q1 2021 to reach Dhs170 billion in Q1 2022, while net foreign investment stood at Dhs8.3 billion. Moreover, the market value of shares owned by foreign investors from Dhs50 billion in Q1 2021 to Dhs131 billion during Q1 2022, an increase of around 163 percent with the top 25 asset and fund managers in the world in terms of AUM currently invested in ADX-listed companies.

The senior ADX delegation included over 25 senior executives from the following listed companies: Adnoc Distribution, Adnoc Drilling, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Agthia, Aldar Properties, Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), Emirates Telecommunication Group Company (Etisalat), First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Fertiglobe.

Bader Saeed Al Lamki, CEO of Adnoc Distribution, said, “This has been a year of unprecedented investor interest in companies based in the UAE capital, underpinned by the country’s attractive macroeconomic environment and increased capital markets activities.”

“At Adnoc Distribution, through the continued expansion of our domestic and international fuel network, we have stayed true to our commitment to help drive the future growth of Abu Dhabi’s private sector and capital markets. The strong interest we’ve witnessed from institutional investors is evidenced by our listing on the FTSE FADX-15 blue-chip index - a collaboration between FTSE Russell and ADX - as well as our inclusion on the MSCI Emerging Markets and FTSE EM indices in 2021.”

“This is a reflection of our strong performance over the past 15 months, which saw us further strengthen our operations by continuing to embrace a performance-driven culture, state-of-the-art technology, world-class business practices, innovation, and commitment to our smart growth strategy - all during a global pandemic.”

Alan Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Agthia, said, “We look forward to delivering further growth and value for our shareholders as we accelerate the potential of our new acquisitions and add new value accretive platforms to our existing businesses - delivering against our five-year strategic roadmap of becoming an F&B leader in the MENAP region by 2025.”

Hatem Dowidar, Group CEO of e&, said, “The support of the country’s leadership has helped the UAE become one of the top five countries around the world in terms of its technology infrastructure, ICT adoption and investment in telecom services. This makes e& an attractive investment opportunity for investors while enabling UAE corporates’ digital transformation journey.”