Page 7 - MEOG Week 26 2022
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MEOG                                  FINANCE & INVESTMENT                                            MEOG


       Arabian Drilling gets




       go-ahead for IPO




        SAUDI ARABIA     SAUDI firm Arabian Drilling Co., owned by  commented on the plans publicly, such a merger
                         the local Industrialization & Energy Services  would likely be an effort to emulate the success of
                         Co. (TAQA, 51%) and Schlumberger (49%),  ADNOC Drilling, the subsidiary of Abu Dhabi
                         this week said it has received approval from the  National Oil Co. (ADNOC), which is the region’s
                         Capital Market Authority (CMA) to carry out an  biggest drilling company.
                         initial public offering (IPO).         Arabian Drilling and ADES were both
                           In a statement, the company said that it could  reported to have picked up work in a recent
                         list 26.7mn shares, accounting for 30% of its cap-  contracting drive by Saudi Aramco, covering rig
                         ital, on the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI), the  hire for its ongoing upstream push across various
                         Saudi stock exchange.                supergiant on- and offshore assets.
                           With media reports suggesting the company   ADES’ success is unsurprising given it has
                         could achieve a valuation of $1.4bn, this infers  received Public Investment Fund (PIF) sup-
                         that the move could raise around $420mn.    port to delist from the London Stock Exchange
                           While no date has been given for the IPO,  before relocating its headquarters from Egypt to
                         the CMA’s approval gives Arabian Drilling six  Al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
                         months to list. In April, Arabian Drilling was   The company has also been on a spending
                         reported to have hired HSBC Holdings and SNB  spree, buying five jack-ups from India’s Aban
                         Capital as financial advisers for the potential  Offshore already this year. This has seen its fleet
                         IPO, while also considering a merger with fellow  expand to 32 jack-ups.
                         local firm ADES Group.                 Westwood Global Energy reported at the start
                           A merger would create a ‘national champion’  of the month that ADES had picked up at least 13
                         for drilling, and while neither company has yet  rig hire deals from Aramco since March.™




















































       Week 26   29•June•2022                   www. NEWSBASE .com                                              P7
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