Baladna Plans IPO in First Half of 2018

January 13, 2018

Qatari food producing company Baladna announced plans to hold its initial public offering (IPO) during the first half of this year. These plans were inspired by the wise vision of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and by the company’s desire to support the national production efforts through new projects that enhance the contribution of the private sector.

In statement today, Baladna, in partnership with a group of Qatari investors, will look to complete the offering in the first half of 2018. It has appointed Ernst and Young and PWC to carry out the necessary offering procedures. This IPO must gain the approval of official authorities, as well as the relevant regulatory ones.

The company said it plans to start exporting its products in 2019. It is also continuing with the execution of its expansion plan which aims to contribute to the country’s sufficiency efforts, especially following the unjust siege Qatar was subjected to. It highlighted that its strategy seeks self-sufficiency in dairy products, fresh juices, red meat, chicken, eggs, as well as animal feed. 

Baladna said that its agricultural and industrial facilities are now well-equipped to achieve those goals and provide the highest-quality products. The Qatari company also noted that it has prepared new production lines for plastic packaging with the help of a German company and can now produce 1 million packages a day, as it gears up its exporting efforts.

The company’s other efforts will see it establish a hatchery, a first of its kind project in Qatar, to help cover the needs of local producers and will produce 50 million eggs a year. The broiler poultry farms will also have a production capacity of 42 million chickens a year. The company will also establish a layer poultry farm with a production capacity of 200 million eggs a year. Work on those projects will begin this month and they will be operational in mid-2019.

The company said it also plans to convert all waste in its farms to organic fertilizers to meet market demand and participate in the agricultural development according to the best international standards. The statement said that all studies took the capacity of current local producers and their future expansions into account in order to achieve coherence and integration between all local production units and Baladna.

Baladna concluded its statement by saying that all its plans are a reflection of the state’s vision in activating national initiatives, adding that it looks to honor the aspirations of the Qatari citizens of achieving food security.