Shares of Orascom Construction leapt sharply when the company began trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, underscoring investor appetite for infrastructure-linked growth in the Gulf. The stock closed its first session up about 27 per cent at AED 38.10, having opened near AED 30.15, valuing the company at approximately AED 4.2 billion.
Orascom Construction shifted its primary listing from Nasdaq Dubai, while maintaining its secondary listing on the Egyptian Exchange. It also initiated the process of changing incorporation from the Dubai International Financial Centre to the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
The firm’s financials leading into the listing indicate solid foundations. Its backlog stood at USD 9.6 billion in the first half of 2025, with revenues of USD 2 billion and a net profit of USD 82.7 million. Dividends and share buybacks to date exceed USD 300 million. Year-on-year dividend payments have increased about 20.7 per cent in 2025 to USD 51.8 million.
Executives at ADX portrayed the listing as enhancing sectoral diversity and giving investors new exposure to long-duration infrastructure and energy needs. The infrastructure, industrial and high-end commercial sectors form core parts of Orascom’s operations across the Middle East, Africa and the United States. The group also owns 50 per cent of BESIX, and has interests in building materials, facility management and equipment services.
CEO Osama Bishai said moving to Abu Dhabi aligns with where much of its business and investment is occurring. He emphasised the firm’s intention to pivot more toward infrastructure investment and long-term concession models with recurring revenues, aiming for those to represent about half of revenues within five years.
ADX’s leadership argued that Orascom’s listing is a qualitative boost to the exchange’s depth. The exchange, which already lists companies across twelve sectors including energy, technology and healthcare, will count Orascom among infrastructure-heavy issuers. In the first half of 2025, ADX-listed firms across sectors posted net profits up 15.6 per cent year-on-year, amounting to 88 billion dirhams.
Orascom also secured a large infrastructure contract in Abu Dhabi: a seawater nanofiltration plant with capacity of 522,000 cubic metres per day, linked to transmission pipelines and an in-field distribution network stretching over 230 km, under a 30-year build-own-operate-transfer scheme with government partners.
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