Emirates launches the largest IPO in the Middle East, Europe and Africa
The Emirates continues to expand its influence globally, which is generating very good benefits for the Gulf States. Now, DEWA - the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority - is seeking to raise Dh22.41 billion through an IPO (initial public offering). The offer has been issued through the Dubai Financial Market. If all goes well, this will be the largest ever listing in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
DEWA, for its part, has offered a total of 9 billion ordinary shares in order to make this investment the largest IPO in history. This figure represents 18% of the share capital of the Dubai institution. In the same way, this investment also represents the commitments of the institution's main investors. Thanks to them, the figure amounts to some Dh13.8 billion.
The process of setting up and listing on the country's stock exchange was completed a few days ago, and the offering is now available. Initially, the Dubai government priced the initial offering at Dh2.48 per share. This has been growing thanks to the quality of the selling shareholder who has taken advantage of the situation.
"The international demand for DEWA's IPO is a testimony to the confidence in Dubai's status as a reliable investment destination," said Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohamed, Deputy Prime Minister of Dubai and Minister of Finance of the UAE.
He confirmed on Twitter that demand for the IPO had attracted 315 billion dirhams. This is thanks to the participation of buyers, including the country's sovereign wealth funds and private funds, as well as 65,000 individual investors who have taken advantage of the opportunity to become part of the Emirati entity.
Economic experts have assured that the IPO has received a strong reception from global investors and is becoming stronger and stronger. This is according to Saeed Mohamed al-Tayer, managing director and CEO of DEWA. "Demand has been incredibly strong," he said.
"We are very proud that this is set to be the largest IPO in the UAE and the largest in the EMEA region so far in 2022. This level of interest is not only indicative of DEWA's status as a world-class utility provider, but also underlines Dubai's attractiveness as a global capital market," continued the head of the water and electricity institution.
It should be noted that this is the first time that DEWA has carried out this procedure. An IPO, an initial public offering, is the first sale of shares issued by a company in order to start selling its shares to the public and thus go public. With this, it aims to expand much more globally or even to monetise its assets and raise its profile to the national and international public.
"Going forward, DEWA will continue to focus on creating value for all its stakeholders, meeting the growing demand for electricity and water in Dubai, as well as supporting the Emirate's energy transition to net zero energy by 2020," Al Tayer concluded.
In addition to this cash collection, DEWA has also seen the Emirati bourse rise several places in competition with larger rivals in the region, as it becomes increasingly effective in rivalling exchanges such as Saudi Arabia.
Prior to DEWA, the company that had conducted the world's most successful and highest-priced IPO was Aramco in 2019. The Saudi Arabian oil giant went public through a plan to reduce the Saudi economy's dependence on oil. Aramco managed to raise up to $100 billion through its IPO process and, in doing so, has enabled it to attract future investors to own shares in the company.
