News
EY: Four MENA IPOs raise US $349.9m in Q3 2018
- Saudi Arabia led the MENA IPO activity raising US$220.6m
- Muscat, Egypt, and Tunis recorded one IPO each raising US $129.3m
- Two deals in the GCC raise US$272.6m
The MENA region raised US$349.9m through four IPOs, in Q3 2018, according to the latest EY MENA IPO report. Compared to Q3 2017, IPO value saw an increase year-on-year by 21.9%, while activity declined by 33.3%.
Phil Gandier, MENA Transactions Leader, EY, says: “In light of fluctuating oil prices and
Phil Gandier – EY MENA Transactions Leader
headwinds in the economy, IPO activity in the MENA region has been slow from Q1 to Q3 2018. However, it is positive to see that IPO value increased year-on-year in Q3, especially
when we’ve seen several entities across MENA delaying their plans for IPOs in 2018 due to various factors including (but not limited to) regulatory and global trade concerns and uncertain market conditions in a rising interest rate environment.”
Two GCC IPO listings in Q3 2018, market updates in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait
According to the report, Saudi Arabia led the MENA IPO activity in Q3 with the IPO of Leejam Sports Company on the Saudi Stock Exchange, which raised US$220.6m, making it the biggest IPO in the third quarter. In the previous quarter, four companies went public, three of which were REIT listings on the Tadawul.
Additionally, in the GCC region, Oman’s Muscat Securities Market (MSM) had a single IPO listing for Dhofar Generating Company in the power and utility sector raising US$52.0m.
Gregory Hughes, MENA IPO Leader, EY, says “While IPO performance has been slow this year, regulatory updates and inclusions in global indices have been positive for the GCC IPO market. FTSE Russell has issued a statement that it plans to include Tadawul as a secondary emerging market index in 2019. This follows the September 2018 announcement where MSCI signed an agreement with Tadawul to jointly launch a tradable index in Q4 2018, which is intended to function as a platform for investment instruments, covering exchange-traded funds (ETFs).”
“Looking to Oman, increased clarity in regulatory processes in the power and water sectors has created transparent competition in the sectors, encouraging developers and investors. With as many as six power generation and water desalination companies planning IPOs within three years, Oman’s IPO pipeline looks very healthy,” continues Greg.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange has announced plans to roll out futures trading in 2019 to boost investments. The stock exchange is connecting with seven companies that have IPOs on their agenda.
There have also been talks of MSCI reclassifying the Kuwait Stock Exchange as an emerging market in 2019. The stock exchange is currently a frontier market.
North Africa sees two IPO listings
In the wider MENA region, Egypt and Tunisia recorded one deal each. The IPO of Cairo for Investment & Real Estate Development Company raised US$69.7m. The IPO program laid out by the Egyptian Government, which plans to list public sector companies on its stock exchange, has strengthened the prospects of future IPOs in the country that would promote local and foreign capital inflows. The Government also has plans to introduce an IPO program offering minority stakes of state-owned and private companies in various sectors, in the next three to five years.
Further, in North Africa, the Tunis Stock Exchange saw the IPO of Tunisie Valeurs in Q3 2018 raising US$7.6m, following a yearlong gap of no activity. The improved classification of Tunisia by the FTSE Russell and MSCI, along with the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) member status, received in October 2018, has reinforced the attraction of Tunisia for foreign investment.
Global IPO performance
Globally, IPO activity saw a significant slowdown in Q3 2018, with 302 IPOs raising US$47.1b, marking a decrease of 15% and 2% respectively, compared to Q2 2018. Current market and investor confidence fluctuations are causing companies to delay or pull out of planned IPOs in Q4 2018 despite the recovery in oil prices. Reasons for this could be current market and global trade uncertainties.
“Globally, the third quarter has been a relatively quieter period for IPO activity driven by geopolitical tensions, trade issues between the US and China and the looming exit of the UK from the European Union, all of which have dampened investor confidence in the short term,” concludes Phil.
News
Amr Diab Gets Hacked on Twitter
Amr Diab’s Facebook page has announced that his twitter account has been hijacked by anonymous and now tweeting political.
Update: Amr Diab’s Facebook Page announced that “Amr Diab’s Twitter account has been restored successfully and you can follow Amr’s tweets normally now”
Amr Diab got hacked on Twitter
On Thursday 9th of Jan, Amr Diab’s Facebook page announced that Amr Diab’s Twitter account has been hacked by anonymous and now tweeting politics!
Amr Abdul-Basset Abdul-Azeez Diab (born 11 October 1961) is an Egyptian singer and composer of pop music. He was awarded the World Music Award for Best Selling Middle East Artist, three times: 1998 for the album “Nour El Ain”, 2002 for the album “Aktrr Wahid Byhbak 2001” and 2007 for the album “El Lillady”. Amr Diab also won The African Music Awards 2009, Big Apple Music Awards; Life Achievements Awards: Best Singer of The Year in 2009, and Best Male Act in African Music Awards 2010.
He is known as the Father of Mediterranean Music He has created his own style which is often termed “Mediterranean Music” or “Mediterranean Sound”, a blend of Western and Egyptian rhythms.
In The Mediterranean in Music, David Cooper and Kevin Dawe referred to his music as “the new breed of Mediterranean music”.According to author Michael Frishkopf, Amr Diab has produced a new concept of Mediterranean music, especially in his international hit, “Nour El Ain”.
In his analysis of The Very Best of Amr Diab album, Victor W. Valdivia of All music said: “His music melded traditional Arabic sounds and textures with Western rhythms and instruments. The mesh was dubbed Mediterranean music, and The Very Best of Amr Diab displays Diab’s superb skill in creating it.”
In 1997, he won three awards at the Annual Arabic Festival: one for Best Video, for Best Song, and for Best Artist of the Year. Diab received a Triple Platinum Award for the sales of Nour El Ain and a World Music Award in Monaco.
After the success of the previously shared overall analysis of Sherine’s new album “Ana Keter” and her social media presence, we decided to fulfill your requests with more details and additional insights.
The report is from Jan 15 through Jan 31, 2014; however, starting Feb, we noticed that Sherine’s team has enhanced and developed how they engage with fans on Facebook.
Still, there’s more to do; please review the slides below to know what exactly they are missing with recommendations.
Check out the report:
Key take-outs in 15 days after the launch:
- Album gained 11 million views in 2 weeks on YouTube
- YouTube Channel subscribers boosted by 90K subscribers in 15 days out of 127K total subscribers overtime
- Buzz reached 15K tweets/RTs since the launch on Twitter
- How do people talk about the album/Sherine on Twitter?
- People are sharing songs from YouTube & SoundCloud
- +90% positive sentiment on Twitter
- Sherine’s Twitter account is excellent at spreading the news about the album’s success.
- People are tweeting the song’s lyrics.
- Sarcastic tweets about Sherine & few songs (regular) - Almost zero negativity about the album
- Album teasers on Facebook created credibility for Sherine’s page, reflected in the page results after the album’s launch in the next 15 days with 92K Interactions & 312K New Likes.
- The album received tremendous engagement on the launching date of Jan 15. However, no posts for four days after the launch negatively affected the interactions.
Recommendations:
Sherine Abdel Wahab’s Facebook page would have received double or maybe triple new likes and interactions if the improved posts’ quality; please find below the points taken:
- Long updates with no extra value-added will lead to losing your fans’ interest
- The text-only format isn’t preferred, as it is well-known that they generate less reach than other content (Facebook announcement)
- A call to action is essential to generate leads & increase engagement
- Each post has to have its visual, audio, or video so you can attract/engage your audiences
- Understand the situation and act upon it, always be relevant to the time and avoid posting irrelevant content at the wrong time.
- Revise the tone of voice in future activities.
To recap - Overall performance is average to good - Enhance your content formatting - Improve the tone of voice on all networks - Be creative to engage your fans better - Be Consistent - Start your SoundCloud account.
News
Putin, Obama war on social media starts with unfriend on Facebook
New stage of the cold war, is it?
The Social media war between Putin and Obama started with UnFriend, this is the action taken by Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Facebook diplomacy with American president Barack Obama.
The unfriending comes after an official White House update about the possibility of a US-Syrian war. President Putin revealed that Obama’s updates about the Congressional debate on a possible war with Syria have annoyed him.
After unfriending, President Putin update status on profile “Something I should have done a long time ago”
Also, He said to Russia’s Pravda News Service “President Assad and I, we are the Facebook friends. We like the same pages, we share pictures of cute women and all that. Obama needs to lighten up on there, it’s not for serious stuff,”
President Obama’s latest posts about the possibility of the war in Syria have been reported by someone and he received a warning from Facebook that he will be prevented from posting on his profile for 24 hours.
He has also commented “Really, Putin needs to grow up. If he didn’t like that [post], he could have just hid it from his news feed instead of creating all this Facebook drama,”
JOE BIDEN “Vice President of the United States” announced to reports that President Obama has signed into his Twitter account to unfollow Putin.
The turmoil generated between Putin and Obama over their dispute on the Syrian crisis. Expanded to reach the social networks
Putin and Obama on social Networks
The question now is, are we witnessing a new stage of the cold war between the two countries, will they continue the war online instead of the military tactics and old spy war?
It’s obvious that social media is really changing the game in everything, and now it’s taking over on a very high level.
Keep an eye on Digital Boom and we will keep you posted with more news and updates on the cold war and even more…
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