Persian Gulf Investors Shun IPOs as Emerging Market Stocks Rise to Record - Bloomberg

Companies in the Persian Gulf aren’t benefiting from record demand for share sales in emerging markets as debt concern hurts investor confidence.

Omani mobile-phone operator Nawras and Aluminium Bahrain BSC, the operator of an 850,000-metric-ton-a-year smelter, sold shares this month at the bottom of the range used to canvas investor interest in the stocks. The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council region generated $1.91 billion of initial public offerings this year, compared with $2.27 billion in the same period a year earlier, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The region’s benchmark Bloomberg GCC 200 Index has gained 9.1 percent this year, compared with a 9.9 percent increase for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The average number of shares traded daily in Dubai has dropped 65 percent from the year- earlier period. By contrast, the pace of IPOs in Asia has climbed to a record since the crisis.