ADX’s successful London roadshow showcases the growth and strength of Abu Dhabi capital markets as international institutional investor participation and demand continues to increase

Abu Dhabi, UAE - 14 June 2022: Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has successfully completed a London investor roadshow which saw ADX host a delegation of over 25 senior executives from 9 listed companies and the exchange. The sizeable Abu Dhabi capital market representation reinforces the strong focus on investor relations and continuous dialogue that ADX and its listed companies continue to foster with international and institutional investors.

Over the course of the two-day event, ADX’s delegation hosted 204 investor meetings across 47 one-on-one meetings and 37 group meetings, meeting a total of 89 institutional investors including some of the world’s largest asset management firms in attendance, who collectively manage an aggregate of over $4 trillion in Assets Under Management (AUM).

This integral roadshow comes amidst a backdrop of significant and sustained activity on ADX which has seen increasingly growing demand and interest across its capital markets from international and institutional investors – including on IPOs, listings and new product launches. This stream of activity has led to ADX recently surpassing AED 2 trillion market capitalization target milestone to become the second largest exchange in the Middle East.

The ADX delegation highlighted the growing interest among institutional investors and were able to convey Abu Dhabi’s track record of growth, backed by robust market fundamentals that continue to position the emirate and its capital markets as vibrant, active, and resilient. 

ADX was also able to demonstrate its ability to sustain its strong growth trajectory and the various strategic levers that are being activated as part of its strategy. These levers focus on increasing liquidity, trading activity, market capitalization, sector diversification, while also remaining focused on digital transformation, the investor journey and introducing innovative products and services as part of its ‘ADX One’ strategy.

Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ADX, said: “The well-attended roadshow and size of the ADX delegation is a clear example of the deep and growing international and institutional investor confidence in both Abu Dhabi as a premier investment destination and ADX as the hub for regional participation of institutional and international capital. This is evident through the robust demand our recent IPO pipeline and listings have continued to attract. By building on ADX’s strong market performance and the strategic achievements garnered over the last year, Abu Dhabi and its capital market ecosystem continues to be strongly poised and positioned for a sustained period of growth as we continue to diversify and scale our product, service and sector offering.”   

The roadshow also enabled ADX’s listed companies to showcase their equity stories, and solid financial performance as part of this burgeoning backdrop while also outlining their recent achievements, growth drivers going forward, and investor relations focus as part of a wider drive to increase international participation and investment in ADX equity capital markets. 

Abdulfattah Sharaf, CEO of HSBC UAE and Head of International Middle East, commented: “The UAE economy is a hub of market activity across the Middle East, as evidenced by the past year’s boom in IPO listings across the country. Despite ongoing global challenges, the UAE economy has been resilient and that is reflected in surging demand from investors, seeking access to this rapidly-emerging market. We are excited to connect our global investors to the opportunities in the UAE and that is why we’ve convened this event.”

ADX’s recent initiatives to foster and attract international investors continue to bear fruit with institutional investors trading values (buy + sell) increasing by 83% from AED 93 billion in Q1 2021 to reach AED 170 billion in Q1 2022, while net foreign investment stood at AED 8.3 billion.  Moreover, the market value of shares owned by foreign investors from AED 50 billion in Q1 2021 to AED 131 billion during Q1 2022, an increase of around 163% with the top 25 asset and fund managers in the world in terms of AUM currently invested in ADX-listed companies. 

The senior ADX delegation was led by Managing Director and CEO Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri and included over 25 senior executives from the following listed companies: ADNOC Distribution, ADNOC Drilling, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Agthia, Aldar Properties, Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), Emirates Telecommunication Group Company (Etisalat), First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Fertiglobe.

Comments from ADX-listed companies in attendance

Bader Saeed Al Lamki, CEO of ADNOC Distribution, said: “ADNOC Distribution’s management team is honored to be part of the ADX delegation in ADX- London Conference 2022 and to meet investors in person again. We are committed to a proactive engagement approach with investors.”
“This has been a year of unprecedented investor interest in companies based in the UAE capital, underpinned by the country’s attractive macroeconomic environment and increased capital markets activities.”

“At ADNOC Distribution, through the continued expansion of our domestic and international fuel network, we have stayed true to our commitment to help drive the future growth of Abu Dhabi’s private sector and capital markets. The strong interest we’ve witnessed from institutional investors is evidenced by our listing on the FTSE FADX-15 blue-chip index – a collaboration between FTSE Russell and ADX – as well as our inclusion on the MSCI Emerging Markets and FTSE EM indices in 2021.”

“This is a reflection of our strong performance over the past 15 months, which saw us further strengthen our operations by continuing to embrace a performance-driven culture, state-of-the-art technology, world-class business practices, innovation, and commitment to our smart growth strategy – all during a global pandemic.”

Alan Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Agthia, said: “We are excited to partner with ADX at the London Conference, along with other leading businesses from Abu Dhabi, to share our growth story with the world and discuss opportunities that will augment Agthia’s progress and the UAE’s flourishing economy overall. Since our listing on ADX in 2005, Agthia, today, is firmly placed at the forefront of a thriving and crucial economic sector – offering a wide range of market-leading products across consumer and agribusiness portfolios. The UAE, and Abu Dhabi in particular, has been successful in attracting leading global institutional investors owing to its resilient leadership, and robust business infrastructure. We look forward to delivering further growth and value for our shareholders as we accelerate the potential of our new acquisitions and add new value accretive platforms to our existing businesses - delivering against our five-year strategic roadmap of becoming an F&B leader in the MENAP region by 2025.”

Hatem Dowidar, Group CEO of e&, said: “Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange London conference was a great opportunity to meet institutional investors that showed increased interest in UAE based companies, reflecting investors’ confidence in the UAE economy.”
“The support of the country’s leadership has helped the UAE become one of the top five countries around the world in terms of its technology infrastructure, ICT adoption and investment in telecom services. This makes e& an attractive investment opportunity for investors while enabling UAE corporates’ digital transformation journey.”

Hana Al Rostamani, Group Chief Executive Officer of FAB, said: “Abu Dhabi offers an increasingly compelling proposition for international investors, with our robust and resilient economy and a strong pipeline of IPO activity creating new opportunities for inbound capital flows. As one of the largest MENA constituents in benchmark equity indices, FAB has a proven record of delivering superior and sustainable shareholder returns, and we are consistently seeing increased demand from a global investor base who are very receptive to our differentiated strengths. We are very pleased to support ADX in this proactive initiative to put greater focus on Abu Dhabi’s competitive edge as an investment destination, engage with investors, and to help shape the future of our fast-growing capital markets.”  

Ahmed El-Hoshy, Group CEO of Fertiglobe, said: “Fertiglobe is honoured to be invited by the ADX to join the Investor Conference in London this year. We are proud to be listed on the ADX and extend our congratulations to the exchange for reaching over AED 2 trillion in market capitalisation. The exchange has provided us with an excellent platform as we continue to grow our business and raise our investor profile on a global scale and enabled us to form a key part of Abu Dhabi’s capital markets, in a time when we are witnessing a significant rise in investor appetite and strong interest for companies based in the UAE.”

Ali Al Hashemi, Group CEO of Yahsat, said: “We are delighted to have participated in the ADX London Conference 2022 in collaboration with HSBC, a forum that promoted discussions between ADX listed companies and global investors on the latest investment trends and opportunities in the UAE. Yahsat successfully listed on the ADX in July 2021. It has since continued to deliver a strong financial performance and remains on track to deliver robust growth in 2022 across the business. Today, the UAE is witnessing new heights in the level of interest and capital inflows from international investors and Yahsat is honored to be playing a key role in this important trend.”