Dubai-based shisha company AIR invites banks to pitch for roles in IPO - sources (updated)

Rothschild & Co SCA

04/07/2023 16:26

(Adds details in par 3, context and background in par 7 &8)
    By Hadeel Al Sayegh
       DUBAI, July 4 (Reuters) - Dubai-based Advanced
Inhalation Rituals (AIR), one of the world's biggest producers
of shisha molasses, has invited banks to pitch for roles in its
planned initial public offering (IPO) next year, two sources
with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
    AIR is targeting a flotation in the first half of 2024, the
people said on Tuesday, declining to be named as the matter is
not public.
    The company has not yet decided on a listing venue, but Abu
Dhabi and Dubai are among the options being considered, they
added.
    AIR did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment.
    Britain's Kingsway Capital, the majority owner of AIR, is
seeking a sale as part of a dual-track process, where a seller
pursues a sale and an IPO at the same time.
    Rothschild & Co  ROTH.PA  is acting as financial advisor to
assess options for AIR, including a possible IPO, Reuters
reported in March. 
    The financial services group did not immediately respond to
a request for comment on Tuesday.
    Kingsway started meetings last month with big tobacco firms
including British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco. 
    An investment in AIR would provide global tobacco makers
access to the shisha and the vaping equivalent e-shisha market
in the Middle East and beyond, the sources said.
    Kingsway in 2020 took private Jordan-domiciled and Amman
Stock Exchange-listed Al Eqbal Investment Co in a transaction
valued at more than $1.4 billion including debt. The company was
then rebranded as AIR.
    Private equity firms generally seek to exit their
investments between five and seven years after buying in.
    AIR's most valuable business is Al Fakher, which
manufactures flavoured molasses for shisha pipes sold in more
than 100 countries, according to its website. It also produces
OOKA, a pod-based device that simulates the experience of
smoking shisha, also known as hookah, without the charcoal.
    Middle Eastern companies bucked global trends last year to
raise about $22 billion through IPOs, according to Dealogic.
That was more than half the total for the wider Europe, Middle
East and Africa region.

 (Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by David Holmes)
 ((Hadeel.AlSayegh@thomsonreuters.com; +971566883310;))