Saturday, Jun 18, 2011

(This item was originally published Thursday.)

DOHA (Zawya Dow Jones)--Aamal Co. (AHCS.DO), the Qatari building materials-to-shopping centers conglomerate, Thursday postponed its offering of global depositary receipts, or GDRs, in London--aimed at boosting liquidity and the firm's international profile--due to unfavorable market conditions.

"Due to the continuing unfavorable new issues market environment, Aamal Company has postponed its intention to proceed with the planned offering of its shares in the form of GDRs," the company said in an emailed statement.

Aamal said earlier this year that the decision to raise its freefloat--the amount of shares available to the public--via GDR was aimed at boosting liquidity and the profile of the group overseas. The firm has been listed in Qatar since 2007 but its freefloat is only around 0.3%.

Chief Operating Officer Mohamed Dobashi said at the time that the GDR move would "give visibility and exposure to another market and liquidity from other shareholders."

GDRs allow a foreign company to trade their shares in more than one country, independent from their underlying stock. The instruments are typically used by companies from emerging markets.

The GDR offering, announced l ast month, would have seen shareholder Sheik Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani--majority owner of Qatar's Al Faisal Holding according to Zawya.com--offer up to 118.8 million of his shares in Aamal, or 24% of the company's share capital, in the form of GDRs.

Aamal will "review the timing for its planned GDR offering in due course, subject to market conditions", it added.

The firm's shares closed trading on the Doha bourse 0.7% lower at QAR21.31 in a broadly negative overall market.

Aamal in February posted a full-year 2010 net profit of 561.9 million Qatari riyals ($154.3 million) compared with QAR249.6 million in 2009. The company produces building materials, invests in real estate and manages shopping centers, among other activities.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) said it expects two more Qatari companies to complete GDR offerings in London in the second half of the year as firms in the Arab Gulf state move to exploit investor appetite for exposure to one of the world's fastest growing economies.

-By Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; +974 6659 9818; alex.delmar-morgan@dowjones.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

18-06-11 0727GMT