The shares of Presight AI, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s G42 group focused on data analytics and artificial intelligence, surged by163per cent as the company made its debut on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on Monday.

The shares, which started trading on the ADX under the ticker symbol “PRESIGHT”, jumped to Dh3.52at the start of trading. They settled at Dh3.25 per share at market close.

Presight, which was founded in 2020, sold more than 1.35 billion shares at Dh1.34 a share, equal to 24.24 per cent of the company’s stock upon listing, attracting Dh94.9 billion ($25.8 billion) in bids for its IPO.

The offering raised $496 million for the company and was oversubscribed 136 times on average, excluding the commitment from Presight’s cornerstone investor International Holding Company, it said on Friday.

“The extraordinary level of investor demand in our IPO demonstrates their confidence and trust in Presight’s ability to continue the strong growth trajectory,” Mansoor Al Mansoori, chairman of Presight, said.

“The listing provides an important strategic opportunity for Presight to realise its growth potential and continue to unlock positive societal impact with omni-analytics powered by AI. We are excited to welcome our new shareholders to the company as we continue to deliver value over the long term.”

International Holding Company, the most valuable listed company in the UAE, is a cornerstone investor, accounting for 15 per cent of the offering.

Presight is based at the Abu Dhabi Global Market and focuses on three sectors that it says have significant potential for innovative market growth — public services, finance and sports.

The company uses advanced data analytics to predict environmental impact, enable efficient infrastructure use and transform educational outcomes.

Presight has more than 10 flagship technology solutions, in excess of 100 AI models and clients on three continents.

The company is capitalising on rising demand for Big Data analytics. Its Transformative Analytics Quotient platform, gathers and analyses multi-source data that helps to enable forecasting of probable outcomes that support decision-making.

During the Covid-19 pandemic the company supported the UAE government with analytics, helping it to keep its borders open. It also supported the country as it hosted the Expo 2020 Dubai.

Presight has expanded its operations beyond the UAE and signed its first international agreement — the National Transformation Programme of Digital Angola 2024.

The IPO drive in the Middle East has continued to gather pace in 2023 after the region registered 48 listings in 2022 that raised more than $23 billion last year, compared with $7.52 billion from 20 offerings in 2021.

Earlier this month, Adnoc raised about $2.5 billion from the sale of a 5 per cent stake in its gas business, marking the year’s largest listing globally.

The Adnoc Gas listing was about 50 times oversubscribed and drew more than $124 billion in orders.

Middle East IPOs raised more than $23 billion in 2022 from 48 listings, compared with $7.52 billion from 20 offerings in the previous year.

That was the highest share for the Gulf region after 2019, when Saudi Aramco went public in a $29 billion offering, the world’s largest.

Listed in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and regulated by the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), BHM Capital Financial Services is one of the leading private joint stock companies since its inception in 2006. Over the years, the company has been a pioneering force in the realm of financial services and has been recognised for providing essential tools for corporate and individual clients.

The success of the company rests on the shoulders of Abdel Hadi Al Sa’di, CEO at BHM Capital Financial Services. With more than 25 years of experience in investment management, risk management, business planning, operations, and treasury management, Al Sa’di is one of the most reputable and well-respected investment management and IPO managers in the region. During the course of his career, he has been associated with multiple large institutions in regional and domestic markets, such as CitiBank, Standard Chartered Bank, ANZ Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank, ultimately paving the way for his current leading role.

Al Sa’di moved to Dubai back in 2004 and has been living and working in the city ever since. After Joining BHM Capital in June 2019, Al Sa’di played a leading role in restructuring and transforming the organisation into one of the leading financial services companies in UAE. Under his leadership, the company has enhanced and developed its products, offering a full range of services, thus resulting in over 400 per cent increase in profits, and 200 per cent in customers deposit, in addition to achieving the highest market share in Dubai and Abu Dhabi Financial Markets several times during the challenging year of 2020.

Speaking about the company’s core area of business, Al Sa’di said: “We, at BHM Capital provide premier investment services to a substantial and diversified clientele base that includes institutional and high net worth investors, corporations, and financial institutions from across the globe, offering experience in global markets and a regulatory system.” He added that the company also facilitates financial services to institutional DVP clients and manages the relationship with custodian banks licensed in the UAE.

Competitive edge

Al Sa’di said that the confidence that BHM Capital has in its people is what makes it stand apart from the rest. “Together, we have what it takes to keep growing in the face of uncertainty, using technology in pushing boundaries of what is familiar in the financial services sector. BHM Capital takes huge pride in the pioneering role it has been playing in introducing technology in the financial services sector since its inception in 2006 and we will continue honouring our commitment to grow while developing our capabilities to keep paving the way for all other financial service providers in the region,” he added.

Technology plays a significant role in the company and Al Sa’di said that the company was always looking to take steps to update its processes in line with the latest technological developments. “During 2022, we successfully launched two new services based on revolutionary technologies that are new to the financial services sector such as BHM Capital’s Smart On-boarding System, which is a digital onboarding solution that allows investors to finalise all steps related to opening a trading account and acquiring an investor number through an innovative, simplified, and reliable platform at their fingertips.” He said that since its implementation in April, more than 3,000 investors have successfully on-boarded.

“The second service is BHM Capital’s E-IPO System, which is a digitalised platform that seamlessly enables investors to subscribe to IPOs in minutes at their comfort. Introducing these two services reflects BHM Capital’s leading role in the digital transformation of the financial services industry,” said Al Sa’di.

Success and milestones

The CEO said that he takes the company’s milestones as a mark of success for the brand and said that one of the biggest causes for celebration was when he along with his team were able to transform a loss-bearing company to a profitable organisation. “The profitability kept increasing by more than 100 per cent with each passing year since we took over the management of BHM Capital in June 2019.

This all happened during an unprecedented time that was very challenging for the entire world as we were all dealing with a pandemic,” he added.

Looking towards the future, Al Sa’di said that he is focused towards transforming BHM Capital into a boutique investment firm. “We want to be known as a company that offers full-fledged investment services and excels in providing new and innovative financial solutions to enhance value for all investors and stakeholders while continuing to deliver exceptional financial products and services, within a cutting-edge technology trading platform, to serve all investors in the UAE and international markets,” he concluded.