ADIB Opens Subscription for Its AED 1.75 Billion Rights Issue

The capital raise is meant to fund growth under the lender's Vision 2035 strategy and strengthen its capital position, ADIB said. It is one of the larger equity raises by a UAE bank this year, and comes as First Abu Dhabi Bank weighs a rights issue of its own.

Shareholders on the register on the eligibility date of 2 November received one right for every 34.14 ADIB shares they held. Each right allows the holder to buy one new share at AED 16.45. Investors who buy rights in the market can also subscribe. The rights trade on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange under the symbol ADIBRI26 until 16 November, and ADX trading in the new shares is expected to begin on 18 December, the bank said.

Applications can be made through the ADX ePortal and participating ADIB branches, and the bank's own customers can subscribe in its mobile app. ADIB is the sole receiving bank for the offer. Shareholders who do not take up all their rights keep their existing shares, but their stake will be diluted once the new shares are issued, including if they sell their rights, the bank said.

ADIB's board approved the plan on 25 August. Gulf News reported then that the issue comprised 106,383,000 new shares, priced about 28.8% below the stock's closing price of AED 23.10 on 24 August, and that it would lift the bank's share capital from about AED 3.632 billion to as much as AED 3.738 billion. Shareholders approved the issue at a general assembly on 6 October, and the bank's major shareholders have committed to take up their entitlements, according to Gulf News.

The next date for investors is 16 November, the last day on which rights can be bought or sold before the subscription closes eight days later.