Dubai’s toll operator Salik raised 3.735 billion dirhams ($1.017 billion) from its initial public offering (IPO) on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), as part of a series of IPOs of state enterprises aimed at boosting the size of the emirate’s capital market.
Dubai’s road-toll operator Salik’s ongoing IPO has been oversubscribed 49 times across all tranches as the book building and public subscription period draws to a close.
Total gross demand for the IPO topped 184.2 billion dirhams ($50.2 billion) for all tranches combined, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The Qualified Investor tranche attracted demand from across the globe of 149.5 billion dirhams implying an oversubscription level of 43x (excluding cornerstone, the oversubscription level stands at 52x).
The retail offering attracted more than Dh34.7bn from local investors, implying that it was 119 times oversubscribed.
The UAE Strategic Investment Fund, Dubai Holding, Shamal Holding, and the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund are cornerstone investors in the IPO, with a total commitment of 606 million dirhams, representing 16.2 percent of the offering. Cornerstone Investors’ shares are subject to a 180-day lock-up arrangement, following listing.
Following the completion of the IPO, the Government of Dubai will continue to own 75.1 percent of Salik’s existing share capital.
Salik’s offering is part of Dubai’s plans to list 10 state-owned companies to increase the size of its financial market to about 3 trillion dirhams.
The emirate also plans to set up a 2 billion dirham market maker fund to encourage the listing of more private companies from sectors such as energy, logistics, and retail.
Salik, which was converted into a public joint stock company in June, earlier this week set the share price for the IPO at 2 dirhams per share.
Moreover, the company is expected to begin trading on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Sept. 29. Its starting market capitalization is expected to be 15 billion dirhams.
