Abu Dhabi-based Al Qudra Holding, with businesses ranging from real estate to transport, plans next month to sell shares to the public for the first time in what will be the second-biggest IPO in the United Arab Emirates.

Al Qudra, which has 30 units in industries including infrastructure, will offer 55 per cent of the company in the first week of March to finance expansion, chairman Salah Al-Shamsi told shareholders at a meeting in Abu Dhabi late on Tuesday.

Initially, the company is seeking to raise Dh3.7 billion ($1.01 billion), equivalent to 25 per cent of its share capital, Shamsi said.
Investors can pay for the remainder of the sale later, he said, without being more specific.

'The public offering is to raise funds for existing projects of the company and its expansion,' he said.

The initial public offering would be the second-biggest in the UAE after Dubai's DP World, which raised almost $5 billion in November. Its shares have since declined almost 28 per cent.

Qudra posted a profit last year of Dh703 million, it said on Saturday, without giving comparative data for the year before.

The firm recommended giving shareholders a dividend of 45 fils per share.   Kuwait's Safat Investment Company, which bought 10 per cent of Qudra in December, estimated at the time that a public share sale would value Qudra at Dh9 billion.

Shamsi said in October Qudra was planning an IPO before April. Dubai-based investment bank Shuaa Capital is arranging the IPO.

Shuaa helped Dubai Islamic Bank raise Dh3.18 billion for its property unit Deyaar in May - at the time the largest UAE IPO - in a sale that was 10 times oversubscribed.-Reuters