Page 12 - DMEA Week 20 2022

DMEA FINANCE & INVESTMENT DMEA

Details emerge ahead of Borouge IPO

AFRICA ABU Dhabi National Oil Co. and Borealis this UAE-based, globally competitive market leader.”
week announced plans for the initial public offer- The partners have said that Borouge expects
ing (IPO) of a 10% stake – 3bn shares – in their to pay fixed dividends of $325mn in September
Borouge joint venture (JV), which will launch and $650mn in March 2023 for the 2022 finan-
later this month on the ADX stock market. cial year, increasing this to a minimum pay-out
While pricing for the sale has not been of $1.3bn for FY 2023.
announced, reports suggest that the companies First Abu Dhabi Bank has been appointed the
are aiming to achieve a valuation of $20bn for lead receiving bank, with Abu Dhabi Commer-
the plastics firm, netting a total of $2bn for the cial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Al Mar-
partners. yah Community Bank all involved.
The news follows months of speculation, In December, ADNOC and Borealis awarded
while in April, ADNOC bought 25% stake in five engineering, procurement and construction
Borealis from fellow Emirati firm Mubadala (EPC) packages contracts for the development
Investment Co. (MIC). of the Borouge 4 polyolefin (PO) plant follow-
Post-IPO, ADNOC will hold a direct share- ing their commitment a month earlier to invest
holding in Borouge, with Borealis retaining $6.2bn in the unit by 2025.
36%, 9% of which is now indirectly attributable The first package, which covers early EPC
to ADNOC. work including site preparation, was awarded
In a statement accompanying the release of to local firm Al Asab General Transport and
the IPO documents, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minis- Contracting.
ter of Industry and Advanced Technology and Package 2 covering the facility’s 1.5mn tonne
ADNOC managing director and group CEO, per year (tpy) ethane cracker was awarded to a
said: “Following the highly successful listings of consortium of France’s Technip Energies with
ADNOC Distribution, ADNOC Drilling and the local Target Engineering. The deal is under-
Fertiglobe, ADNOC is bringing to the market a stood to be valued at $500mn-$1bn.™

SUPPLY & PROCESSING

Iran considering exporting gas to Europe

MIDDLE EAST IRAN is considering the possibility of exporting gas in the liquefied form should the requisite
gas to Europe, a deputy oil minister was on May investments be made. Iran, however, is an ally
15 quoted as saying by Iran’s official news agency of Russia and in recent years the two countries
for energy news, Shana. have consulted closely on gas development and
“Iran is studying this subject but we have not markets.
reached a conclusion yet,” Majid Chegeni report- Another consideration is that while Iran has
edly said. “Iran is always after the development enormous gas reserves, years of sanctions on
of energy diplomacy and the expansion of the Tehran have resulted in huge under-investment
market,” he added. in developing Iranian gas fields.
The signalling from Iran, a country that Last year, the European Union received
boasts the second largest gas reserves in the around 155bn cubic metres of Russian gas,
world behind Russia, comes as Europe continues accounting for 45% of its imports.
to examine its options for ending its reliance on Chegeni was also reported as confirming that
Russian gas, in the wake of Russia’s invasion in Tehran and Baghdad have signed a memoran-
Ukraine. Chegeni, however, did not discuss any dum of understanding under which the Islamic
infrastructure options for getting Iranian gas to Republic will this summer increase its gas
Europe. The development of routes via Turkey or exports to Iraq in return for Iraq paying existing
Azerbaijan might be options as might shipping gas debts owed to Iran.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 20 19•May•2022