MOSCOW (MRC) -- Qatar Petroleum has selected two banks to help arrange an initial public offer of shares in one of its units, an issue which could be worth around 3.2 billion riyals (USD880 million), as Reuters.
Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Co may conduct the IPO on the Qatar stock exchange before the end of this year, subject to necessary approvals being granted. It would be Qatar's first IPO in three years.
Qatar National Bank QNBK.QA has been chosen to manage the offer while Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) will act as financial adviser, the two sources said. Qatar Petroleum declined to comment.
The sale of shares in the IPO will be restricted to Qatari nationals, although foreign investors will be allowed to buy a certain percentage of the firm once it has been listed, the second banking source said.
Gulf states often sell stakes in state-owned companies at significant discounts to citizens as a means of spreading their enormous hydrocarbon wealth.
In May, an executive board member of Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, said Qatar Petroleum planned to offer shares in four of its units in coming years, without specifying the firms involved.
However this year, buoyed by a wider rebound in global equities, strong domestic economies and index compiler MSCI's decision to upgrade Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to emerging market status, regional stock markets have jumped and companies are beginning to go public again.
However, a planned stock market listing for Doha Global Investment Co, a USD12 billion Qatari investment company backed by assets from the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, was postponed in May and it is not clear when it might go ahead.
The Qatar Exchange has an equity market capitalization of about 530 billion riyals, suggesting the Mesaieed Petrochemical listing could be easily absorbed.
As MRC wrote before, Qatar Petroleum plans to spend as much as USD25 billion over the next five years on projects, including a planned USD6.4 bln petrochemical plant in partnership with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and a USD5.5 bln plant in partnership with Qatar Petrochemical Co, a unit of Industries Qatar.
The Qatar Petrochemical Company produces ethylene, low density polyethylene, and sulfur. Its facilities consist of an ethylene plant producing 525,000 tonnes per annum (tpa), two low density polyethylene (LDPE) plants with 360,000 tpa and a sulphur plant with 70,000 tpa.
MRC