#Dubai’s DEWA Seeks $2.2 Billion in Biggest IPO Since DP World - Bloomberg

Dubai’s DEWA Seeks $2.2 Billion in Biggest IPO Since DP World - Bloomberg

Dubai’s main power and water company is looking to raise as much as $2.2 billion in its initial public offering, in what would be the emirate’s biggest listing since DP World in 2007.

Dubai Electricity & Water Authority plans to sell a 6.5% stake, or 3.25 billion shares, at 2.25 dirhams to 2.48 dirhams apiece, valuing the firm at as much as $33.8 billion. The listing, which will make DEWA the biggest company on the emirate’s bourse, marks the first step in Dubai’s ambitious plan to reinvigorate its flagging capital markets.

The deal drew in six cornerstone investors, including wealth funds Emirates Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, who agreed to subscribe for shares worth as much as 4.7 billion dirhams ($1.3 billion) at the offer price.

DEWA is seeking to take advantage of strong investor interest for new share offerings in the region even as equity markets around the world are roiled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation and hawkish central bank policies. High oil prices have been a boon for the energy-rich Persian Gulf, however, allowing IPOs to go ahead while issuers elsewhere sit on the sidelines.

“The volatility we’re seeing exists in equity markets outside our region. This is a boom time for our region,” Akber Khan, a senior director at Doha-based Al Rayan Investment, said to Bloomberg Television. Khan added that he see energy prices remaining high for several years.