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Abu Dhabi listed firms to meet UK, US investors

ABU DHABI - At least nine companies listed in Abu Dhabi plan to make presentations to investors in London and New York next month in a trip arranged for the first time by the emirate’s stock market, a bourse official said on Thursday.

The companies will meet asset- and pension-fund managers, including clients of HSBC Holdings Plc HSBA.L, said the official, who did not want to be identified.

“The aim is to give companies that have foreign ownership greater visibility,” the official said, declining to identify the firms.

Oasis Leasing Co. OILC.AD, which leases aircraft and ships, will be among the companies making presentations, the company’s chief operating officer, Simon Mclean, told Reuters.

The Dubai Financial Market Co. DFM.DU arranged a similar trip to London earlier this month that included presentations from companies such as Emaar Properties EMAR.DU and Dubai Islamic Bank DISB.DU.

That helped fuel a rally in the index .DFMGI, which has risen 22.4 percent since touching a 2007 low on April 3. Gulf markets, except Oman and Bahrain, crashed last year after share prices exceeded earnings expectations.

The Abu Dhabi bourse, the Gulf’s best performing this year, invited companies from each industry and that allow foreign ownership, the official said.

Rashed al-Baloushi, the bourse’s acting general manager, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Abu Dhabi’s main index .ADI has soared 26 percent since touching a 2007 low two months ago.

Shares of Aldar Properties ADLR.AD, the largest real estate developer in the oil-producing emirate, have almost doubled this year, outperforming the index by 59 percent.

Aldar allows 40 percent foreign ownership, though they hold about 7.6 percent, according to the latest bourse data.

HSBC said in a research report last week Gulf Arab markets are “extremely attractive - cheap stocks, large current-account surpluses and strong growth.”

The bank prefers Abu Dhabi over neighbouring Dubai because it is “at a much more favourable stage of the property market cycle,” according to the May 25 report, which gives Gulf Arab markets an “overweight” recommendation.

“The bloc remains our strongest positive call” among emerging markets, and in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, HSBC said.

Ronald Barrott, chief executive of Aldar; Dany Safi, CEO of National Central Cooling Co. TABR.AD and Mounir Haidar, CEO of Sorouh Real Estate SOR.AD, could not immediately be reached for comment.