A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is selling 5.01% of its 10% stake in Ooredoo, the Qatari telecommunications giant listed on both the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE).
The sale is part of a secondary global offering of up to 160,480,320 existing shares, according to a stock market filing by Ooredoo.
ADIA, which currently owns 320,319,940 shares representing nearly 10% of Ooredoo’s share capital, will continue to hold 4.99% after all shares in the offering are sold.
The shares are being offered to institutional investors, with a price range set between QAR12.40 and QAR13.00 per share. The final offer price will be determined through a bookbuilding process and announced on November 19, 2025, while the subscription period runs from November 18 to 19, with trading expected to begin on November 20, 2025.
Ooredoo shares closed at QAR13.94 on QSE and Dh11.84 on ADX on Monday. According to ADX records, the market capitalisation stands at Dh37.925 billion.
At the upper end of the price band, the sale could raise approximately QAR 2.09 billion (around $575 million). ADIA said the transaction was part of a long-term investment strategy aimed at realising value from its longstanding partnership with Ooredoo while improving the company’s trading liquidity.
“ADIA has been a shareholder in Ooredoo since the company first listed in 1998. Since then, we have seen the company grow into a leading international digital infrastructure provider. This transaction offers the opportunity to realise value from our long-term support of the company, while bringing greater liquidity to the market,” said Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, Executive Director of ADIA’s Private Equities Department.
Ooredoo welcomed the move, noting that it would broaden its shareholder base and strengthen its market profile. “By launching this offer – the first transaction of its kind in Qatar – ADIA is enabling an important step to broaden Ooredoo’s shareholder base and enhance our shares’ liquidity on the Qatar Stock Exchange,” said Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, CEO of Ooredoo.
He added that the company’s disciplined investment approach and focus on digital infrastructure, including data centres, subsea cables, fintech, and towers, positions it well for its next phase of growth.
The deal, which is Qatar’s first-ever fully marketed offering, will boost Ooredoo’s free-float from 22% to at least 27%, Fakhroo told Bloomberg News in an interview. The firm hopes to raise that further to 30% “very soon,” he added.
The offering will be conducted in compliance with international securities regulations, with no new shares issued by Ooredoo. The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale, and existing shareholders will experience no dilution of ownership. The sale is being managed by Citigroup Global Markets Limited, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, and QNB Capital LLC, who are acting as joint global coordinators and bookrunners.
Ooredoo, which operates across the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, serves around 150 million customers and reported QAR18.2 billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2025, up 3% year-on-year, with a net profit of QAR3.1 billion.