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L’imad unit’s offer for Abu Dhabi Ports clears key conditions, settlement by October 9
Voluntary offer to acquire up to 100% of AD Ports Group, backed by HSBC’s fairness opinion and the board, clears conditions bar regulatory sign-off
- PUBLISHED: Tue 8 Sept 2026, 9:01 AM
Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund L’imad’s wholly-owned subsidiary Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ) has confirmed that all key conditions of its voluntary conditional cash offer to acquire up to 100 per cent of the issued and paid-up share capital of Abu Dhabi Ports Company (AD Ports Group) have been satisfied, paving the way for settlement of the deal by October 9, 2026.
In a disclosure to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), ADQ said the offer, made through a wholly owned subsidiary on August 18, 2026, covers all AD Ports Group shares not already held by ADQ, at a price of Dh6.25 per share.
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Save for customary notifications still to be submitted to the Securities and Commodities Authority and ADX, all other conditions set out in the Offer Document have now been met, the company said.
As a result, settlement of the offer, comprising payment of the offer price and transfer of the acquired shares to ADQ, will take place no later than 9 October 2026.
Deal background
The offer was first flagged on August 17, 2026, when L’imad, a sovereign investor of the Government of Abu Dhabi, announced its intention to make the voluntary conditional cash offer through its wholly owned subsidiary ADQ, which already held 75.42 per cent of AD Ports Group's shares at the time. The transaction, if completed in full, would take L’imad’s ownership of the ports, logistics and maritime infrastructure operator through ADQ to 100 per cent.
The offer came days after AD Ports Group reported an 88 per cent jump in second-quarter net profit to Dh836 million, its strongest quarterly performance on record, driven by growth across its maritime and shipping, economic cities and free zones, and logistics clusters.
On August 26, 2026, AD Ports Group’s board formally recommended that shareholders accept the offer, following a fairness opinion from independent financial adviser HSBC Bank Middle East, which concluded that the Dh6.25 price was fair from a financial perspective to holders of the shares subject to the offer. The board also approved the accompanying shareholder circular.
Rothschild & Co Middle East acted as financial adviser to L’imad on the transaction, with Allen & Overy Shearman Sterling as legal adviser.
ADQ is the majority shareholder of AD Ports Group, whose portfolio spans around 40 terminals with a presence in some 50 countries. The company’s latest disclosure requests that ADX publish the fulfilment of the offer conditions along with the expected settlement date.
Further details on the offer timeline and any residual regulatory steps are expected to follow through official ADX disclosures.
