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* Targeting $1 bln market capitalisation
* Some shares to be new, others from PE backers
By David French and Praveen Menon
DUBAI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi-based Gulf MarineServices (GMS) said on Monday it intended to sell shares on theLondon Stock Exchange to fund its growth plans, with the oil andgas services firm targeting a market valuation of $1 billiononce listed.
It is the latest privately-owned firm from the United ArabEmirates to look outside the Middle East for a stock marketlisting. Several have chosen London, giving them access to awider group of investors and less stringent ownership rules thanin their home market.
The resurgence of local stock markets - in 2013, the valueof Dubai's bourse more than doubled, while Abu Dhabi's climbed 63 percent - has not stemmed the tide.
GMS plans to sell new shares worth $100 million, as well asan undisclosed number of shares currently held by private equitybackers, according to a regulatory filing in London.
Abu Dhabi private equity firm Gulf Capital currently owns 79percent of GMS and will offer shares in the initial publicoffering (IPO) through two subsidiaries. Horizon Energy and Al Ain Capital also have holdings. The statementdid not specify how much each party would contribute to the IPO.
While the price of shares will be set at a later date, asource familiar with the matter said GMS was targeting a marketcapitalisation of $1 billion after the IPO.
Given that a minimum of 25 percent of a company must belisted for inclusion in FTSE indices, this would indicate theIPO will be worth at least $250 million.
The source would not be drawn on a timetable for the IPO.However, if GMS followed a traditional schedule of two weeks ofroadshows and two weeks of bookbuilding, the listing would takeplace towards the end of March.
Proceeds from the $100 million sale of new shares will beuse to buy a small vessel called the Keloa for $37.5 million,repay $20 million of shareholder loans and expand its business,the statement added.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and Barclays are global coordinators of the offering with JP Morgan Cazenove also acting as a bookrunner. Rothschild is the financialadvisor to the company.
Previous attempts to sell all of GMS, which startedoperations in 1977 and is currently the Middle East's largestoperator of jack-up barges, collapsed due to financing issuesand differences over its valuation.
Since then, Gulf Capital has been preparing GMS for an IPOon a major stock exchange such as London.
"It is their strategy. We cannot force companies to listhere," Abdullah al-Turifi, the chief executive of UAE equitiesmarket regulator the Securities and Commodities Authority, saidat an event on regulation in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
"But we will encourage them to dual list."
Other UAE-based firms to have listed in London in the lasttwo years include Dubai's DAMAC Properties, whichraised $348 million in December, and Abu Dhabi-based healthcarefirms Al Noor Hospitals and NMC Healthcare.
