Al Abraaj Restaurants Group, a publicly listed company in Bahrain, announced that it will create a Bitcoin treasury strategy, becoming the first company in the Middle East to create a Bitcoin reserve. Al Abraaj added 5 BTC to its balance sheet and plans on using more of its treasury to expand its crypto holdings. Al Abraaj prefers Bitcoin for its strategy and will make successive acquisitions to mimic other reserve companies, such as Michael Saylor’s Strategy.
Al Abraaj, moreover, plans on becoming the Strategy of the Middle East. The company is a long way off from catching up to Strategy’s holdings, with only 5 BTC, but is still making a sizable investment due to how expensive Bitcoin is right now. Al Abraaj announced that it will allocate a considerable amount of its corporate treasury to Bitcoin. The company seems to be centralising its treasury strategy around Bitcoin, similar to other companies like Strategy, Metaplanet, and Tesla. Al Abraaj is traded under the ticker symbol ABRAAJ on the Bahrain market. Al Abraaj has a PE ratio of 9.52 and a PB ratio of 1.59. The company is profitable with a 2024 EBITDA of $12.5 million. Al Abraaj wishes to experiment with Sharia-compliant financial instruments to introduce Bitcoin and reserve strategies to the Islamic world of finance and business.
“Our initiative towards becoming a Bitcoin Treasury Company”, said Abdulla Isa, chairman of the Bitcoin Committee at Al Abraaj, “reflects our forward-thinking approach and dedication to maximizing shareholder value. We believe that Bitcoin will play a pivotal role in the future of finance, and we are excited to be at the forefront of this transformation in the Kingdom of Bahrain. 10X is a proven leader in advising and bringing capital to listed Bitcoin Treasury Companies, and we welcome their partnership in helping us build the MicroStrategy of the Middle East”.
10X Capital, a crypto company dedicated to promoting Bitcoin treasuries, has partnered with Al Abraaj to help them transition to a corporate treasury strategy. 10X Capital assisted the company Nakamoto in raising $710 million. Nakamoto then went on to make a successful merger and build a successful treasury strategy, conforming their business model to the 10X Capital format. Al Abraaj plans on tapping 10X Capital to help them raise more funds to buy cryptocurrency. Al Abraaj will use an accumulation metric, such as Bitcoin per share, to communicate with investors the extent and impact of their Bitcoin holdings. Hans Thomas, 10X Capital CEO, said that the Al Abraaj deal could potentially expose the entire Gulf region to cryptocurrencies and blockchain finance.
Al Abraaj will govern their Bitcoin holdings with a department called the Bitcoin Committee, responsible for securing the Bitcoin in a safe wallet, organised by a group of specialists with experience trading cryptocurrencies. Al Abraaj will communicate with shareholders regularly to update them on their crypto activities and will provide them with an updated tally of their Bitcoin holdings. Al Abraaj will use various metrics to assess the value of their Bitcoin holdings, such as a treasury-to-shares ratio, or other such metrics championed by Japanese company Metaplanet. Al Abraaj will be able to describe their Bitcoin activities as related to innovation and technology. They will further be able to advocate for Bitcoin in the Middle East and participate in digital asset conferences, further establishing their influence in the region.
