Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance and AS&H act as Issuer's counsel to Americana on its historic US$1.8bn IPO

Transaction represents first-ever concurrent dual listing in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance and Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm (AS&H), together with Ibrahim & Partners, have acted as Issuer’s counsel to Americana Restaurants on its landmark initial public offering (IPO) and first ever dual listing on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The institutional investor tranche, which was marketed domestically and internationally, drew orders worth $105 billion and was 65.5 times oversubscribed, while subscriptions from individuals in the UAE and Saudi Arabia exceeded 48.2 times and 2.8 times, respectively, raising a total of USD1.8 billion. Following the allocation of shares, Americana was listed on the ADX and Tadawul on December 12, 2022.

Americana, founded in Kuwait in 1964, is a franchisee of a diverse portfolio of iconic global brands including KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee's, Krispy Kreme and TGI Fridays and operates in 12 markets throughout the Middle East.

The cross-border team advising Americana was led by Dubai-based partner and Head of the Middle East Equity Capital Markets Practice, Mike Taylor, and London-based US securities partner John Connolly, who were supported by senior associates Rezwan Azam (Dubai) and Christopher Osborne (London), and associates Massimiliano Valli (Dubai), Natasha El-Najjar (Dubai), Mathias Toubiana (London), Luke Ng (London), Yash Ranade (London), Brian Chen (London) and Radhika Sharma (London).

AS&H Partner and Head of the Capital Markets & Financial Regulatory, Mansoor Alhagbani, led the Riyadh team with support from partner Omar Rashid, senior associate Sultan AlFayez and associates Haifa AlDamegh, Alhanouf Al-Sultan, Aljazi Alhagbani, Naif Al-Sheikh, Aljoahra BinAhmed, Khaled AlBakr and Alia Al-Kadi.

Ibrahim & Partners advised on UAE and ADGM law matters and their team was led by managing partner Ahmed Ibrahim with support from senior associate Nour Al Jafri and associate Bahjat Al Jayyousi.

AS&H and Clifford Chance's award-winning equity capital markets teams have a strong track record of advising on some of the largest and most innovative transactions in the Middle East, including many market firsts. In the past year alone this has included advising on the IPOs for DEWA (the largest ever IPO in Dubai), Fertiglobe (Equity Deal of the Year – IFLR Middle East Awards 2022), Marafiq, Saudi Tadawul Group and ACWA Power (Equity Capital Markets Deal of the Year – Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Awards 2022), in addition to advising PIF on its $3.2 billion sale of a 6% stake in stc by way of a secondary public offering, which marked the first secondary offering from Saudi Arabia to be marketed both inside and outside of the Kingdom. The team also previously advised Saudi Arabian Investment Bank (SAIB) on the public offering of its treasury shares through a rights issue mechanism, another first of its kind deal in the region, and NCB Capital on its underwriting and sub-underwriting arrangements in relation to Saudi Aramco's landmark US$25.6 billion IPO, which is still the world's largest. The team was also recently named Equity Team of the Year at the IFLR Middle East Awards in 2022.