Shares of oil and gas driller ADES Holding climbed almost 30% above its listing price on its market debut in Riyadh on Wednesday after raising $1.22 billion in an initial public offering last month.
The shares outperformed the wider Saudi market, which slid 0.1%, continuing turbulence following Palestinian Islamist Group Hamas' surprise attack on Israel over the weekend.
ADES shares rose as much as 17.54 riyals ($4.68) in early trade on the Saudi Exchange, against an IPO price at the top of the indicative range at 13.50 riyals a share. ADES is part-owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund. Headquartered in the Saudi Arabian city of Khobar, ADES operates a fleet of offshore and onshore rigs across the Middle East, North Africa and India.
The company counts Saudi Aramco, Kuwait Oil Co., and North Oil Company in Qatar as major clients.
ADES' institutional tranche was oversubscribed multiple times throughout the range within hours of opening last month. The retail tranche was oversubscribed 9.8 times. EFG Hermes, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and SNB Capital were financial advisers and global co-ordinators for the IPO. ($1 = 3.7507 riyals)
(Reuters - Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh, Editing by Louise Heavens)