Fertiglobe shares jumped 20% in their ADX debut yesterday before closing 17.6% higher at AED 3.06 per share. The joint venture between the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) and Nassef Sawiris’ OCI raised some USD 795 mn in last week’s IPO, pricing shares at AED 2.55 apiece. The listing was heavily oversubscribed and made the company third largest by market cap on the ADX, valuing its shares at USD 5.8 bn. You can catch the start of trading announcement here (pdf).

EFG Hermes rides the Gulf IPO rush: Fertiglobe’s strong start follows the success of Adnoc Drilling’s USD 1.1 bn public listing, in which shares rose c. 30% on their debut earlier this month. Energy giant ACWA Power also made its debut on the Tadawul this month, with its share price shooting up its 30% limit to SAR 72.80 following its USD 1.2 bn IPO. EFG Hermes worked on all three listings, putting the investment bank on track for “a landmark year” in 2021, according to a statement, which added that the firm has closed a record 23 transactions worth USD 6.1 bn so far this year.

El Salvador has bought 420 BTC after the price of the cryptocurrency slid from its recent high, saying “we just bought the dip.” El Salvador made the digital currency legal tender alongside the USD last month. Since then, the price of bitcoin reached a record USD 67k before nose diving to USD 58.6k by yesterday.

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.0% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 1.21 bn (20.7% below the 90-day average). Foreign investors were net sellers. The index is up 4.8% YTD.

In the green: Aspire Capital (+3.5%), CIRA (+3.3%) and CIB (+3.1%).

In the red: Rameda (-5.2%), Ibnsina Pharma (-3.8%) and Egypt Kuwait Holding-EGP (-3.0%).

Asian markets are all in the red at dispatch time. Futures suggest a mixed open for major European benchmarks later today — and that Wall Street has a chance of opening in the green.