DUBAI - Dubai-based Advanced Inhalation Rituals (AIR), the Middle East's biggest tobacco company, has invited banks to pitch for roles in its planned initial public offering (IPO) next year, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

AIR, one of the world's biggest producers of shisha molasses, is planning a flotation in the first half of 2024, said the people, declining to be named as the matter is not public.

AIR did not immediately respond to a request for a comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.

Britain's Kingsway Capital, the majority owner of AIR, is seeking a sale as part of a dual-track process, where a seller pursues a sale and an IPO at the same time.

Reuters reported in March that Kingsway had hired Rothschild & Co to advise it on options for AIR, including a possible IPO.

Rothschild did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Kingsway in 2020 took private Jordan-domiciled and Amman Stock Exchange-listed Al Eqbal Investment Co in a transaction valued at more than $1.4 billion including debt. The company was then rebranded as AIR.

Private equity firms generally seek to exit their investments between five and seven years after buying in.

AIR's most valuable business is Al Fakher, which manufactures flavoured molasses for shisha pipes sold in more than 100 countries, according to its website. It also produces OOKA, a pod-based device that simulates the experience of smoking shisha without the charcoal.

Middle Eastern companies bucked global trends last year to raise about $22 billion through IPOs, according to Dealogic, which was more than half the total for the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by David Holmes)