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Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) is considering moving ahead with an IPO after several years of hinting at the possibility, with the region’s biggest aluminium producer tapping banks for proposals, according to a Bloomberg report.
The listing that could raise several billion dollars, the same report added, naming Rothschild & Co. as advising the firm, according to people familiar with the development.
EGA was formed in 2013 following the merger of state-owned companies Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Aluminium. The new entity is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. and the Investment Corporation of Dubai, with plants in both emirates.
The Bloomberg report said the listing venue has yet to be determined and remains “a key question for the deal.”
In a statement to Bloomberg, EGA said no decision has been made on a potential IPO, adding that the company is “exploring potential requirements to ensure readiness, should the shareholders choose to proceed with an IPO in the future.”
EGA shareholders have been mulling an IPO for years, with the company’s CEO Abdulla Jassem Kalban telling reporters in 2018 that an IPO was on track for the second half of the year.
In a 2023 interview with Bloomberg News, Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak said EGA could sell shares to the public “maybe this year.”
EGA has had a busy year with the announcement of its first new primary aluminium production plant in the US since 1980, a $4 billion project.
The company has also faced setback in Africa as early as this week with Guinea revoking the bauxite concession awarded to a subsidiary of EGA and transferred it to a newly created state-backed firm, citing violations of its mining code, according to a decree.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Brinda Darasha)
