DUBAI (Reuters) -Supermarket chain Spinneys' franchisee in the United Arab Emirates and Oman is seeking to raise as much as $375 million from the sale of a 25% stake in an initial public offering, it disclosed on Tuesday.
The indicative price range was set between 1.42 dirhams and 1.53 dirhams, implying a market capitalisation of between 5.11-5.51 billion dirhams ($1.39-1.50 billion), it said in a statement.
Spinneys 1961 Holding will offer 900 million shares, or 25% of its issued share capital, on the Dubai Financial Market.
"We have got very positive feedback from all the investors internationally or regionally," CEO Sunil Kumar told Reuters.
The company has attracted two cornerstone investors in Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC), the strategic investment arm of Abu Dhabi-based National Holding, and Franklin Templeton, he added.
They have committed to take up an aggregate $75 million in the offering, according to the statement.
"Since (the) ITF (intention to float announcement), we have got the same momentum more aggressively from investors and they're all excited to be participating", Kumar said when asked whether the disruptions brought by heavy rains last week had impacted the IPO.
Heavy rains lashed the United Arab Emirates last week, causing four deaths as well as flooding roads and jamming Dubai's international airport, one of the world's busiest and a hub for travel around the Middle East.
"The rainfall has a very minimum effect on our operations," he added.
Spinneys operates 75 premium grocery retail supermarkets under the "Spinneys", "Waitrose" and "Al Fair" brands in Oman and the UAE, where it plans to open new stores this year.
It also plans to expand into Saudi Arabia this year and open stores in the capital city Riyadh and in Jeddah.
"We do have quite a lot of Saudi investors excited about it (the IPO)... (they) believe this may be a very good opportunity for the Saudi market to get the customer base whom we are catering here....So Saudi investors are very keen to invest in this company."
The final pricing will be determined at the end of the book-building period, which is slated for April 30, it said in a statement, adding shares were expected to start trading on May 9.
($1 = 3.6726 UAE dirham)