Gulf Marine Services (GMS) seeks to raise $100m through an initial public offering (IPO). The company, which is owned by Abu Dhabi-based private equity firm Gulf Capital, is eyeing a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

GMS is planning to hold investor roadshows at the end of February.

The US’ Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the UK’s Barclays Bank are acting as joint global coordinators, bookrunners and sponsors, while the UK’s JP Morgan Cazenove is joint bookrunner.

Abh Dhabi Commercial Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank are co-lead managers. Rothschild is financial adviser to GMS.

GMS operates self-elevated support vessels (SESVs), which are used in the offshore oil and gas and wind power industries to support installation, maintenance and refurbishment activities. It has a core fleet of nine SESVs, with a further six planned for delivery between now and June 2016.

The company plans to use the proceeds of the offer to purchase a small, $37.5m vessel and repay its shareholder loans, totalling about $20m.

GMS currently operates in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and Northwest Europe, and has plans to expand into West Africa and Southeast Asia in the future.

On 31 December 2013, GMS had an order book of $434m, including options to extend. Revenues grew from $106.9m in 2011 to $184.3m in 2013.

The firm is one of at least 10 UAE companies that plan to list shares this year, which would bring an end to the region’s IPO drought of the past six years.

Many are eyeing listings on exchanges abroad in order to raise their international profile and tap into a larger pool of liquidity.