I These Middle East-Based Firms Listed On Foreign Exchanges In Q1 2022

Several Arab companies are tapping into the booming trend of blank-check companies as they seek a faster road to public trading with less regulatory scrutiny than a traditional IPO.

year for IPOs in 2021, Russia’s war in Ukraine, rising inflation, and high-interest rates have roiled global equity markets in 2022, forcing several companies including valuable startups to shelve plans to go public. However, stock exchanges in the GCC region have bucked the trend and are bracing for yet another year of record listings after (DEWA) raised $6.1 billion in April.

GCC stock markets are introducing several initiatives such as the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange’s (ADX) regulatory framework for the listing of special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). SPACs are blankcheck firms that are listed on a stock exchange and seek to raise funds with the intent of using the capital to acquire a private target company (usually within two years), according to EY.

Here are two regional companies that went public on international markets in a SPAC deal in Q1 2022.

The companies’ ordinary shares’ market capitalization are as of May 10, 2022.

Market Cap: $157.4 million Bourse: Nasdaq Abu Dhabi-based Anghami debuted on Nasdaq on February 4, 2022, following the music streaming platform’s $220 million merger with blank-check firm Vistas Media Acquisition Company, making it the first Arab tech firm to list on Nasdaq New York.

The company’s common ordinary shares, which trades under the ticker “ANGH,” soared more than 231% in its trading debut to reach its all time high at $33.13 per share on February 17, 2022 , but the stock had slumped to $6.11 as of May 10, 2022. Abu Dhabi-based Anghami’s merger deal included a $30 million commitment from U.A.E.-based financial services platform Shuaa Capital and $10 million from Vistas Media Capital in private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing.

The Middle East Spotify challenger was founded by Lebanese entrepreneurs, Eddy Maroun and Elie Habib in 2012 in Beirut and relocated its global headquarters to Abu Dhabi in January 2021. With a market capitalization of $157.4 million as of May 10, 2022, Anghami has 72 million songs in its libraries and 75 million registered users. Its counts Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group among its partnerships.

Market Cap: $694.3 million Bourse: Nasdaq Dubai-based Swvl debuted on Nasdaq in March 2022 following a merger with SPAC Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital in a deal that valued the transport startup at $1.5 billion. Since its trading debut, Swvl’s stock was down more than 40% to trade at $5.84 per share as of May 10, 2022, after weeks of volatility.

Swvl received $164.6 million of gross proceeds from the transaction, together with a $111.5 million in PIPE commitment and $53.1 million in cash from Queen’s Gambit. The mass transport startup is also set to receive additional capital via an additional PIPE commitment of $10 million and a $471.9 million equity financing facility “subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain closing conditions.”

The company’s global footprint has grown exponentially over the last nine months to reach 146 cities across 21 countries following the acquisition of U.K.-based smart mobility platform Zeelo, Turkish mass transit provider Volt Lines, Berlin-based mobility startup Door2door, Latin America mass transit firm ViaPool, and on-demand ride service Shotl.

Founded in Egypt in 2017, Swvl allows commuters to share fixed-route bus trips. It had a market capitalization of $694.3 million as of May 10, 2022.