Alef Education Holding, an AI-powered learning solutions provider based in Abu Dhabi, on Monday announced its intention to proceed with an initial public offering and listing of its ordinary shares for trading on the main market of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (“ADX”).
Alef Education is indirectly majority owned by Abu Dhabi Capital Group. Founded in 2008, ADCG’s scale, global reach, diverse investment mandate, and sector leading businesses, help to create transformative value as the natural partner of choice for some of the world’s leading businesses and investment institutions.
The selling shareholders expect to sell 20 per cent of the total issued share capital of Alef Education (equivalent to 1,400,000,000 shares). All shares are existing shares being sold by the selling shareholders, Tech Nova Investment – Sole Proprietorship L.L.C and Kryptonite Investments L.L.C and the company will not receive any proceeds from the offering. The selling shareholders reserve the right to amend the size of the offering and the size of any tranche at any time prior to the end of the subscription period at their sole discretion, subject to the applicable laws of the UAE and the approval of the SCA in the UAE.
The first tranche offer (individual investors and other investors, including natural persons, companies and establishments as defined in the UAE Prospectus) subscription period is expected to run from May 28 to June 4, 2024. This will comprise eight per cent of the offer shares, representing 112,000,000 shares. The second tranche offer (professional investors) subscription period is expected to run from May 28 to June 5, 2024. This will comprise 92 per cent of the offer shares, representing 1,288,000,000 shares.
Admission of shares to trading on the ADX is anticipated to occur on or around June 12, 2024.
The Internal Shariah Supervision Committee of First Abu Dhabi Bank has issued a pronouncement confirming that, in their view, the offering is compliant with Shariah principles.
Abdulhamid Mohammed Saeed Alahmadi, chairman of Alef Education’s board of directors, said: “Since its inception, Alef Education has played a pivotal role in advancing the UAE’s education landscape. The global EdTech market has experienced exponential growth over the last couple of years, supported by increased government spending and initiatives to leverage digital and AI tools to transform the way that education is delivered and students learn. As a leading EdTech company, we have been – and will continue to be – both a proponent and beneficiary of this growing trend, which has helped fuel the growth and expansion of our business.”
Geoffrey Alphonso, chief executive officer of Alef Education, commented: “To date, our growth has been strongly supported by – and continues to benefit from – the UAE government’s focus on providing quality education to a broad student base, and increased fiscal spending allocated to education, totalling over 15 per cent of the UAE federal budget in 2023. This remains true across and beyond the GCC, with the Mena region allocating an average of 4 per cent of GDP towards education spending in 2022. With Alef Education serving approximately 40-50 per cent of the private school market, the increased global education spending dovetails with our well-defined growth strategy. We intend to solidify our market leadership at home and grow our presence across our target markets through continued investment in our digital capabilities, broadening our product offering and expanding our geographic footprint both organically and through strategic M&A. Our IPO on ADX is an important milestone and natural progression in our journey to maximise our potential and become a global EdTech leader. Supported by our transparent dividend policy, we are committed to delivering strong shareholder returns in both the near and long term, and we look forward to welcoming new shareholders in what is an exciting new chapter for Alef Education.”