Dubai Residential REIT provided a positive data point for UAE IPOs with shares closing up 13.6% on debut on Wednesday.

The Dh2.15bn (US$584m) deal is the first IPO on the DFM this year and the second in the UAE following the Dh600m ADX listing of Alpha Data.

Shares in the REIT opened at Dh1.21 versus IPO pricing of Dh1.10 and rose as much as 19.1% to Dh1.31 before settling back to close at Dh1.25.

Around 262.3m shares changed hands, representing 13.5% of the 1.95bn shares in the IPO.

XCube is stabilisation manager with a 243.8m share brownshoe.

Citigroup, Emirates NBD and Morgan Stanley were joint global coordinators, and joint bookrunners with Abu Dhabi Bank, Arqaam Capital and First Abu Dhabi Bank.

Both Dubai Residential REIT and Alpha Data, which closed up 6.7% on debut, follow varied performances for floats in 2024, which saw the majority of listings trade below issue, particularly large private sector deals such as Lulu Group and Talabat.

The REIT is a relatively defensive proposition, offering a high dividend yield, government backing and simple valuation.

While positive, Dubai Residential REIT’s first day performance is behind that of fellow government-backed Parkin, which closed up 35% on debut last year.

Parkin was covered a record 165 times compared with 26 times' coverage for Dubai Residential REIT.

Source: IFR