#Dubai’s DEWA May Boost Post-IPO Dividend Payout to $1.69 Billion - Bloomberg

Dubai’s DEWA May Boost Post-IPO Dividend Payout to $1.69 Billion - Bloomberg

State-owned Dubai Electricity & Water Authority is considering tripling its annual dividend target to 6.2 billion dirhams ($1.69 billion) after listing in the first half of the year, people familiar with the matter said.

The target dividend is a steep increase over the 2 billion dirhams paid to shareholders last year, according to an investor presentation seen by Bloomberg News. The firm paid out 1.5 billion dirhams in 2020 and 4.5 billion in 2019.

The utility, which caters to the emirate’s 3.4 million people, has started investor meetings to drum up interest for what will likely be among the city’s largest listings. The IPO could value the firm at as much as $25 billion and may happen by April.

DEWA raised a 10 billion-dirham facility in the first quarter to fund a pre-IPO dividend and optimize its capital structure, according to the presentation.

The company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Consolidated revenue at the firm rose 6% to 23.8 billion dirhams in 2021, it said in the presentation. DEWA expects growth of 12%-12.5% this year, helped by growth at its Empower unit and “material” independent power producer capacity additions.

It expects consolidated Ebitda margin to reach about 56% in 2023. Capital expenditure in the five-year period to 2026 is expected to be about 40 billion dirhams, including about 15 billion dirhams in 2022 and 10 billion next year.

DEWA’s IPO is part of the emirate’s plans to list 10 state-owned companies and revive its stock market. Dubai missed out entirely on last year’s $9.1 billion IPO boom in the Middle East and North Africa.