Today's Edition
A.SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
ADQ, an active sovereign investor focused on critical infrastructure and global supply chains, has acquired an additional 35.31% stake in Aramex through a voluntary tender offer. The offer, made by ADQ’s wholly owned indirect subsidiary, Q Logistics Holding, closed on March 10.
With this latest acquisition, ADQ’s cumulative ownership in Aramex has now reached 58%, including the 22.69% stake already held by AD Ports Group, in which ADQ maintains a majority stake. The Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor has expressed its intention to secure full ownership of the company.
In a stock market filing, Mansour AlMulla, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer at ADQ, stated: “The aggregate acceptances, together with the shareholding of AD Ports Group, amount to 58% of the shares in Aramex, exceeding the minimum acceptance conditions for the offer specified in Article 9(2) of the SCA’s Board of Directors Decision No. (18 / R.M) of 2017 concerning the Mergers and Acquisition Rules for Public Joint Stock Companies (Acquisition Regulations).”
In a separate press release, AlMulla said that Aramex will become an integral component of ADQ’s Transport & Logistics cluster, which already includes leading entities such as AD Ports Group, Abu Dhabi Airports, Etihad Airways, and Etihad Rail. “As the majority shareholder in Aramex, we plan to leverage our extensive track record of growing local companies into globally competitive market leaders for the benefit of Aramex and all its stakeholders,” he added.
ADQ anticipates that the proposed transformation of Aramex will be complex and capital-intensive, requiring time to materialise, which may limit short- to medium-term returns for shareholders, according to its stock market statement.
As per SCA regulations, ADQ has the discretion to accept shares from shareholders who did not tender during the offer period until 3pm on March 24, 2025, at the offer price of Dh3.00 per share.
The final total number of tendered shares will be announced on March 28, 2025.
