Mideast's biggest tobacco firm AIR invites banks to pitch for roles in IPO-sources

Rothschild & Co SCA

04/07/2023 08:53

By Hadeel Al Sayegh
       DUBAI, July 3 (Reuters) - Dubai-based Advanced
Inhalation Rituals (AIR), the Middle East's biggest tobacco
company, 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, one of the world's biggest producers of shisha
molasses, is planning a flotation in the first half of 2024,
said the people, declining to be named as the matter is not
public.
    AIR did not immediately respond to a request for a comment
when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.
    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.
    Reuters reported in March that Kingsway had hired Rothschild
& Co  ROTH.PA  to advise it on options for AIR, including a
possible IPO.
    Rothschild did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on Tuesday.
    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 without the charcoal.
    Middle Eastern companies bucked global trends last year to
raise about $22 billion through IPOs, according to Dealogic,
which 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;))