More companies eager to listed on UAE bourses

Another 23 companies are waiting for approval from the authorities to get listed in the UAE’s financial markets – Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Dubai Financial Market (DFM) – by end of 2023.

With the enlisting of all these companies, they are expected to increase their market value to $820 billion and enhancing their investments besides attracting a new segment of investors. This will also enable the UAE bourses to further consolidate their position not only in the region but also emerge as the most important financial and business markets in the world.

The journey of the UAE markets began with the listing of Abu Dhabi Ports Group on the ADX in February and the second company to go public was Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) early this week.

The other companies waiting for listing Dubai’s toll road system ‘Salik’, and the owner and operator of investment free zones in the Emirate ‘Tecom Group.’ 

The Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), which is the world’s largest district cooling services provider in Dubai was listed in December 2021.

Ignoring Geopolitical Tensions

Proving their resilience in the wake of ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and spurt in COVID-19 cases in many countries, many local companies have drawn up plans to get listed on the UAE bourses in the last few weeks. What has really gave them a boost has been the increasing oil prices.

In an interview with SkyNews Arabia, Mohamed Ali Shorafa Al Hammadi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) said that 13 new companies will be listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange before the end of this year.

DEWA’s Price Range

The subscription period for Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) shares began for individual and institutional investors for 3.52 billion shares, equivalent to 6.5% of the company’s total shares. The price range was set between $0.61 and $0.68 per share. In other words, DEWA raised which means that the company raised a maximum of $6.1 billion.

International agencies indicated that DEWA’s subscription was covered hours after its launch, amid expectations of an increase in the stake by about 10%-12%, in light of the high demand for the offering, which is the largest in the Dubai market in 15 years, based on the high confidence in “DEWA”, which owns Huge financial base.

Shares of DEWA rose 20% to $0.81 from the offer price of $0.68, which was the top end of the marketed range. The IPO valued DEWA at $33.8 billion.

The core investors included Emirates Investment Authority, ADQ Holding, the UAE Strategic Investment Fund, the Multiply Group, Alpha Abu Dhabi Holding Company, who invested $1.3 billion in DEWA.