Bankers in the Middle East are expecting a busy end to the year to make up for a disjointed first half that saw the IPO window disrupted by Ramadan running through March immediately followed by market volatility surrounding US tariffs and heightened regional conflict.

The coming months should see activity in the UAE keep pace with regional leader Saudi Arabia in terms of dollar volume. 

UAE state-backed construction firm Alec is expected to be one of the first deals to launch after summer with the much-publicised IPO of classified ad platform Dubizzle to follow.

Three IPO candidates in Saudi Arabia – car rental business Cherry Trading Company, Al Ramz Real Estate Company and refrigeration company CGS – need to complete before year-end when their approval windows expire, with more deals expected to be approved by the Capital Market Authority this year.

One banker focused on the region said there was some caution given the recent performance of Saudi deals that have seen many stocks trade down, including Marketing Home Group which dropped 4.9% on Tuesday's debut and another 3.8% on Wednesday.

According to the banker, while there has been a backdrop of market volatility, there has been a lack of investor selectiveness during IPOs, with initial selling difficult to manage due to a lack of stabilisation. 

As evidenced in the recent Adnoc L&S sale, the secondary market continues to be a growing part of the region’s ECM dealflow with a second banker focused on the region predicting more ABBs in the rest of the year.

Source: IFR