Luberef, Aramco set tone for hot 2023 IPO listings in Gulf

Al-Monitor Pro Members

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst, Al-Monitor

Dec. 12, 2022

Amid a global IPO slowdown, the Middle East was an outlier in 2022: listings boomed in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, fueled by governments offloading stakes in state-owned companies. The headliner: a $6.1 billion IPO by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) in April. This IPO bonanza should continue into early 2023. There’s a pipeline of listings on the horizon, while significant firms continue going public into 2022’s final weeks. That said, declining oil demand could undermine the local market and several recently listed companies in the Gulf are already trading below IPO prices. Looking ahead to early 2023, the next phase of the Gulf’s IPO wave will largely rest on the shoulders of a giant: Saudi Aramco. Its refining unit Luberef expects to raise $1.32 billion from an IPO and begin trading on Saudi’s Tadawul exchange by early 2023. Meanwhile, its trading arm Aramco Trading is also exploring a listing slated to arrive in early 2023.