By Ahmed Tolba, Hadeel Al Sayegh and Federico Maccioni CAIRO/DUBAI (Reuters) -Lulu Retail Holdings, which runs one of the Middle East's biggest hypermarket chains, kicked off an initial public offering on Monday that bankers say could be the UAE's largest this year.

LuLu Retail operates retail stores under the Lulu brand in the UAE, the KSA, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Based on retail sales, it was the second largest grocery retailer in the UAE and the largest retailer in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait in 2023, according to Euromonitor International.

UAE retail giant LuLu will sell 2.58 billion shares, representing 25% of its stake through a three-tranche IPO that will start on October 28 and close on November 25. The company will list its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) next month. The announcement of the final offering price will 6 November.

GCC full-line retailer, announced its intention on Monday to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) of 25% of its total issued shares, to be listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).