NRI businessman MA Yusuffali’s Lulu Retail launches ₹ 12,000 crore IPO in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi-based retail giant Lulu Retail, promoted by non-resident Indian (NRI) businessman MA Yusuffali, on Oct 28 launched its ₹ 12,000 crore initial public offering (IPO) in the Gulf region.

In India, the Lulu group owns malls in Kochi, Bangalore, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Palakkad, Hyderabad and Calicut.

The retail chain in a statement has confirmed the IPO range at dirham 1.94-2.04 per share, with the final pricing to be confirmed on Nov 5. The IPO price range means an issue size dirham 5.01-5.27 billion ($1.36-1.43 billion).

Its shares will be listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

Once the IPO is concluded, Yusuffali’s family – originally from Kerala — will retain an effective 60 % stake in Lulu Retail Holdings. He had previously sold a 20 % stake in Lulu International Holdings Ltd to the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ) in 2021.

Retail investors are guaranteed a minimum 1,000 shares, on minimum investments of dirham 5,000 and a multiple of dirham 1,000 thereafter. The Gulf region including Abu Dhabi, UAE and Kuwait have a sizeable NRI population.

The company in a statement recently said that a total of 2.582 billion shares, each with a nominal value of $0.014 (equivalent to AED 0.051), representing 25 % of the total issued shares in the company, are to be sold by the company’s sole shareholder, Lulu International Holdings Ltd, where Yusuffali’s family holds 80 % stake.

Lulu Retail earned $3.9 billion’s revenue for the 2024 first-half, up 5.6 % on the year, while the full-year revenue in 2023 rose 5.6 % to $7.3 billion.

Yusuffali, who is the founding shareholder of the group, and is the ultimate beneficial owner of Y International Holdings Limited which in turn holds 80% in the selling shareholder, according to the offer document.

The Lulu group operates retail stores in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, the KSA, and Bahrain.

It was the second-largest grocery retailer in the UAE and the largest retailer in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, and the fastest-growing and largest pan-GCC retailer in the KSA, in each case based on the retail sales value for 2023.

As of August this year , the group operated a network of 240 stores, comprising 116 hypermarkets, 102 Express stores, and 22 mini markets, with 103 stores located in the UAE, 56 stores located in the KSA, and 81 stores across the other markets.