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Abu Dhabi-based retail giant Lulu Retail, promoted by non-resident Indian businessman MA Yusuffali, on Monday launched its $ 1.43 billion (Rs 12,000 crore) initial public offering (IPO) in the Gulf region.
The retail chain has confirmed the IPO range at dirham 1.94-2.04 per share, with the final pricing to be confirmed November 5. The IPO price range means an issue size dirham 5.01-5.27 billion ($1.36-1.43 billion). Its shares will be listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Once the IPO is concluded, Yusuffali’s family – originally from Kerala — will retain an effective 60 per cent stake in Lulu Retail Holdings. Yusuffali had previously sold a 20 per cent stake in Lulu International Holdings Ltd to the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ) in 2021.
Retail investors are guaranteed a minimum 1,000 shares, on minimum investments of dirham 5,000 and multiple of dirham 1,000 thereafter. The Gulf region including Abu Dhabi, UAE and Kuwait have a sizeable NRI population.
The company said that a total of 2.582 billion shares, each with a nominal value of $0.014 (equivalent to AED 0.051), representing 25 per cent of the total issued shares in the company, are to be sold by the company’s sole shareholder, Lulu International Holdings Ltd, where Yusuffali’s family holds 80 per cent stake.
Lulu Retail earned $3.9 billion’s revenue for the 2024 first-half, up 5.6 per cent on the year, while the full-year revenue in 2023 rose 5.6 per cent to $7.3 billion.
In India, the Lulu group owns malls in Kochi, Bangalore, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Palakkad, Hyderabad and Calicut.
Yusuffali, who is the founding shareholder of the group, and is the ultimate beneficial owner of Y International Holdings Limited which in turn holds 80% in the selling shareholder, the offer document says.
The Lulu group operates retail stores in the UAE, the KSA, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. It was the second largest grocery retailer in the UAE and the largest retailer in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait and the fastest growing and largest pan-GCC retailer in the KSA, in each case based on the retail sales value for 2023.
As of August 2024, the group operated a network of 240 stores, comprising 116 Hypermarkets, 102 Express stores and 22 mini markets, with 103 stores located in the UAE, 56 stores located in the KSA and 81 stores across the other markets.
