The Qatari unit of Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone group by sales, said on Sunday it expects to list its shares on the Doha bourse by the end July. The unit raised 3.38 billion riyals ($929.1 million) or 3.346 billion riyals after expenses in its initial public offering from April 12-26, the Gulf Arab gas exporter's first share sale in over a year.
The Vodafone Qatar share sale was the second-largest initial public offering in the Gulf Arab state since the Industries Qatar IPO in 2003. "There were many offers from Qatari institutions for above the maximum institution subscription caps amount that Vodafone Qatar was unable to accept due to the structure outlined in the IPO prospectus," the company said in a statement. The company, which is now 77 percent Qatari-owned, sold a 40 percent stake to 82,000 Qatari nationals who bought 65 percent of the offered shares.