EFG Hermes Successfully Completes Advisory Services for the $515 Million IPO of Alef Education Holding on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
Today, EFG Hermes, the leading investment bank in the Middle East and North Africa and a subsidiary of EFG Holding, announced that its promotion and underwriting division successfully completed advisory services for the $515 million IPO of Alef Education Holding on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Alef, a highly acclaimed company based in Abu Dhabi, holds a leading position in the education technology sector by offering a suite of AI-powered educational programs and digital solutions.
EFG Hermes acted as joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner for the transaction.
In this transaction, Alef offered 1.4 billion shares at AED 1.35 per share, representing 20% of the company’s total issued shares, bringing the market value to AED 9.45 billion ($2.6 billion).
The offered shares were owned by Technova Investment and Kryptonite Investment.
The transaction saw significant interest from local, regional, and international investors, with the IPO being oversubscribed 39 times. Trading of the company’s shares commenced today under the symbol “AlefEdT.”
In this context, Mustafa Gad, Head of Promotion and Underwriting at EFG Hermes, stated that this transaction marks a milestone for EFG Hermes as it is the company’s first transaction on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange as a joint global coordinator and the first IPO for a technology company in the UAE.
Gad added that the strong investor interest in this transaction demonstrates the significant growth potential of Alef and its innovative approach to delivering various digital learning solutions.
He affirmed that this transaction reflects EFG Hermes’s renewed commitment to supporting the growth in the UAE and the capital markets of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as well as supporting clients’ growth objectives.
This success is evidenced by completing six transactions in the UAE market and ten transactions in the GCC markets this year alone.
Gad expressed pride in EFG Hermes’s contribution to the notable development of the financial services sector in the UAE and looked forward to seizing more opportunities that drive progress and innovation in the region’s capital markets.
Alef Education, which has received numerous prestigious awards, is a leader in the education technology sector, specializing in offering a variety of AI-powered educational solutions.
It also provides digital education services and resources for different educational stages, from kindergarten to secondary school, for public and private schools, teachers, students, and parents in the UAE and several other countries around the world.
The company successfully improved students’ proficiency in Arabic and mathematics in Indonesia, increasing scores by 8.5%.
In 2023, more than 1.1 million students and 50,000 teachers in 7,000 schools benefited from the company’s educational services and solutions.
The positive impact of the company’s long-term and perpetual contracts with clients has resulted in strong financial performance in terms of revenue and profits, with an average adjusted EBITDA margin of 62% between 2021 and 2023.
Additionally, the company signed a long-term agreement with the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, providing clear visibility on revenue expectations for the next seven years.
Alef operates in the UAE, Indonesia, and the United States, adopting diverse growth strategies through both organic growth and mergers and acquisitions to capitalize on promising opportunities in the education technology sector, driven by the company’s prudent management vision, which contributes to continued growth and prosperity, enhancing shareholder value.
It is noteworthy that this transaction extends a series of prominent deals that EFG Hermes has successfully completed over the past years in the GCC markets, including completing ten capital market transactions in 2024 alone, encompassing the IPO of Alef Education.
Recently, the company acted as joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner for the private placement of BIG Investment Group on the Kuwait Stock Exchange and as bookrunner for the fully marketed secondary public offering of Saudi Aramco on the Saudi Exchange.
Additionally, the company was the financial advisor, bookrunner, and joint underwriter for the IPO of Miyahuna on the Saudi Stock Exchange, which was 178.3 times oversubscribed.
It also served as bookrunner and underwriter for the IPO of Fakeeh Care Group on the Saudi Stock Exchange, which was 119 times oversubscribed.
EFG Hermes was joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner for the accelerated bookbuild offering of ADNOC Drilling, and it acted as bookrunner for the IPO of Spinneys, a leading retail and supermarket chain, on the Dubai Financial Market, which was 64 times oversubscribed, in addition to the IPO of Barkin on the Dubai Financial Market, which saw the highest oversubscription rates for any IPO on the Dubai Financial Market to date.