APM Bahrain IPO is “chance for proceeds”

Neil Davidson explained that the main purpose of the IPO, which will offer 20% of the company’s total issued share capital and is open to Bahraini and non-Bahraini corporate and individual investors from 8 November, is to meet a contractual promise made when the Bahrain business was initially set up.

“For the current owners, it’s a chance to take proceeds from the business they’ve built up, and for Bahrain it’s a chance to get the wider business and private community involved in the port,” commented Mr Davidson, who in April said that the port was operating at 45% of its capacity and APM Terminals Bahrain aimed to double the size of its operations in the future.

Mark Hardiman, CEO/managing director at APM Terminals Bahrain said: “Today is a significant moment for APM Terminals Bahrain as we move forward to launch our IPO, with an opportunity to invest in a successful public-private partnership and Bahrain’s only commercial port.”

“We are excited about the IPO and look forward with confidence to our next stage of growth for APM Terminals Bahrain as a publicly listed company,” he added.

However, Mr Davidson remarked: “I don’t really see this as a public-private partnership though – it’s essentially a private sector deal.”

IPO structure

Commencing on November 8th, the APM Terminals Bahrain IPO offering will be open for a period of 17 days until 24 November.

The IPO is structured with 70% of the shares on offer allocated to institutional investors (i.e., those applying for over 100,000 shares), while 30% of the shares have been allocated to retail investors (i.e., those applying for up to 100,000 shares).

APM Terminals Bahrain is a joint-venture between Netherlands-based APM Terminals International BV (80%) and YBA Kanoo Holdings of Bahrain (20%).