The chairman of Senaat, Hussain al Nowais, has hired two companies to sell share units of the Abu Dhabi-based holding company. Senaat is the state-owned holding company in the UAE that is working with HSBC Holdings and JPMorgan Chase for the sale of the units. Originally, Senaat had plans to sell share units a year ago but postponed the initial public offering until now and is awaiting approval from the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.
Senaat plans to IPO specific industries as they already own a number of companies in Abu Dhabi that include National Petroleum Construction Company and Emirates Steel. But the exact details of which industry shares are still under consideration by chairman Hussain al Nowais. The holding company manages over $6.9 billion in industrial assets behalf of the Abu Dhabi government and the executive council is the primary authority on the approval for the sale of share units. Some subsidiaries under the Senaat umbrella are already trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange like Agthia Group PJSC, Ducab, Al Foah and Arkan Building Materials Company.
Hussain al Nowais says that another IPO unit could enter the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange this year with another one the following year but it all depends on the market conditions and the executive council. While the decision continues to be discussed, National Petroleum Construction is initiating plans of a possible expansion outside its home market. With talks of acquiring a medium-sized engineering company, National Petroleum Construction is considering options in Europe and India that would improve their engineering capabilities as a whole.
As the Abu Dhabi Executive Council deliberates the IPO opportunity with Hussain al Nowais, the possible expansion of National Petroleum Construction could sweeten the prospects of IPO fruition because companies that expand outside home markets typically increase in value.