How recently IPO’ed companies’ stocks performed in comparison to regional peers: Saudi IPOs that took place last year outperformed their peers in the UAE, Oman, and Egypt in terms of post-listing stock appreciation, with data suggesting investors are favoring mid-sized offerings with strong fundamentals over bigger, more high-profile listings.

By the numbers: The average post-listing gain for Saudi IPOs stood at 37% against 17% in the UAE, Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer of the UAE’s Century Financial, told Bloomberg.

Saudi capital markets have strong foundations: Other analysts emphasized the Kingdom’s wide investor base as well as its more liquid capital markets, allowing it to absorb IPO supply more efficiently than its regional peers. This is helped by both a larger population and large market caps, with companies listed in the Kingdom valued at USD 2.7 tn, in comparison to the UAE’s USD 1 tn. Saudi Arabia also has the largest asset management industry in the GCC, with over USD 250 bn in assets under management as of June 2024, Bloomberg reports, citing data from Fitch.

THE UAE-

Listings from the logistics, infrastructure and investment firms sectors dominated the leaderboard, with direct listings on the ADX outperforming traditional IPOs in stock gains. It was also a popular year for retail and e-commerce companies looking to IPO, though their post-IPO performance was less impressive.

Agility Global delivered UAE’s best performing IPO in 2024 in terms of stock gains: ADX-listed Agility Global recorded the highest stock price appreciation post-IPO last year, with shares closing at AED 1.3 apiece on Tuesday, marking a 252.4% increase from its debut price of AED 0.37. Agility Global — the operations and asset management arm of Kuwaiti logistics company Agility — closed out a technical listing of its shares on the ADX in May of last year, giving it a market cap of AED 16.46 bn at the time.

DFM-listed Parkin came in second, with its shares closing at AED 4.44 a piece last Tuesday, up a total of 111.4% from its final IPO price of AED 2.1. The state-owned car parking space manager wrapped up the UAE’s first IPO of 2024 in March, as part of a broader government push to privatize and list 10 of its assets. The blockbuster IPO saw it raise nearly AED 1.6 bn in proceeds, giving the company a market cap of AED 6.3 bn at the time.

Rounding out the top three best stocks post-IPO: Mair Group’s stock was up 70.7% since its launch on the ADX in December of last year, closing at AED 1.98 on Tuesday from its debut price of AED 1.16. The Abu Dhabi-based investment firm — which specializes in food retail and commercial real estate — hit the market in a direct listing which boosted its capitalization to AED 6.6 bn, up from AED 2.6 bn.

SOUND SMART- IPO vs direct listing: Think of an IPO as a grand opening party where a company invites big-ticket investors to buy its shares first at a set price before letting the public in. A direct listing, on the other hand, is like a business simply unlocking its doors and letting people buy and sell its existing shares on the stock exchange — no new shares are issued, and no underwriters involved. Direct listings are a more straightforward way for a company to go public, where the stock price is determined purely by supply and demand when trading begins.

MEANWHILE- Some of the UAE’s heftiest IPOs, including Spinneys, Lulu Retail and Talabat, have had a less impressive post-IPO performance despite issuers upsizing their offering at the last minute and pricing their shares at the high end of the range due to high demand. Spinneys shares are up 3.1% since their debut, at AED 1.65 as of Tuesday, while Lulu Retail’s shares are down 11% from their debut share price of AED 2.04. Meanwhile, ADNH Catering and Alef Education — which both also saw a muted start on the ADX — are also down from their debut price, with ADNH Catering’s shares down 5% as of Tuesday, and Alef Education’s shares down 4% as of its last trading day on Monday.

SAUDI ARABIA-

Fintech, infrastructure and media IPOs saw broad-based gains on Tadawul, while the parallel market Nomu’s top performers came from construction, tech and ESG consulting.

Rasan logged the highest post-IPO share price jump on Tadawul in 2024. The fintech outfit’s share price was up 140.3% since its launch on the main market, closing at SAR 88.9 on Tuesday, up from its debut price of SAR 37. The offering, which wrapped up in May of last year, consisted of a sale of new and existing shares, raising some SAR 841 mn in proceeds, and giving the company a market cap of SAR 2.8 bn at the time.

In the parallel market: Construction and mining firm Mohammed Hadi Al Rasheed’s IPO topped the parallel market Nomu performance charts, with its stock closing at SAR 115 on Tuesday, up 310.7% from its debut price of SAR 28. Meanwhile, tech firm Naqawa IT (Purity Tech) ranked second with its shares rising 162.3% to SAR 20.98 apiece on Tuesday, from its final IPO price of SAR8.

EGYPT-

Egypt’s only two IPOs of 2024 came from the investment and banking sectors, with both listings reflecting different routes to the market — one raising fresh cash for expansion and the other part of a government sell-off. Despite a quiet year for new listings, investors showed strong interest in financial services firms, signaling confidence in the sector as Egypt looks to lure more companies to market.

Act Financial posted Egypt’s sharpest stock rally in 2024 after going public on the EGX. The investment company’s shares closed at EGP 3.37 apiece on Tuesday — up 16.2% from its debut price of EGP 2.9 upon completing the first IPO the EGX had seen in a year back in August. Act Financial raked in some EGP 1 bn from floating a 32% stake, as part of its broader plans to invest in more EGX-listed and non-listed companies.

In second place is the EGX’s only other IPO of the year: United Bank’s shares were up 4.33% on Tuesday, since the company hit the market in December 2024, clocking in at EGP 14.45 apiece, up from its debut price of EGP 13.85. The IPO put the Cairo-based lender’s market cap at EGP 15.7 bn at the time, after the Central Bank (CBE) floated a portion of its stake in the company, as part of a country-wide IMF-backed privatization push.

OMAN-

Oman’s single IPO last year has seen its shares fall 17.4% since their debut: The share price of state-owned OQ Exploration & Production (OQEP) closed at OMR 0.322 on Tuesday, a 17.4% decline from the IPO price of 390 baizas. OQEP raised USD 2 bn in its debut on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) in October of last year, offering a 25% stake at the top of the indicative price range at 390 baizas apiece. This was the only listing on MSX in 2024.

Can we blame it on market conditions? The oil and gas giant had a disappointing debut thanks to investors pricing in an oversupply for oil this year. “Investors are shying away from energy markets,” Faisal Hasan, chief investment officer at Al Mal Capital told Bloomberg in October. They are “increasingly pricing in a surplus for energy markets in 2025. Demand growth has been weak, non-OPEC+ supply is robust, and the OPEC+ may look to gain market share rather than defend price levels.”

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