EFG Hermes, a leading investment bank franchise in Frontier Emerging Markets (FEM), has announced that its investment banking division has successfully completed advisory on Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (Dewa) $6.1 billion initial public offering (IPO) on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) – the largest ever listing in the Middle East since 2019 and a first-of-its-kind transaction of a public company in Dubai.

The historic transaction solidifies EFG Hermes’ unrivaled position as the region’s leading equity capital market advisor in FEM markets to both public and private sector corporations, said a statement from the Egyptian group.

Dewa, the exclusive utility services provider in Dubai, listed 9 billion shares today (April 12) representing 18% of its share capital - at AED2.48 per share, implying a market capitalisation of AED124 billion and making it the largest company on the DFM. Its shares began trading under the ticker Dewa UH Equity.

On the key achievement, Mohamed Fahmi, EFG Hermes’ Co-Head of Investment Banking, said: "We are honoured to have advised on this historic listing - not just for the DFM but the Middle East as a whole - which has spurred unprecedented foreign and local investment into the market by giving them first-time access to Dubai’s burgeoning energy sector."

"We believe that the Dewa offering will reignite activity on the DFM and the strong investor appetite is testament to the interest of all investor types in the Dubai bourse and the overall growth story," remarked Fahmi.

"With a healthy pipeline of IPOs lined up, the UAE boasts numerous and diverse investment opportunities for clients, and we’re expecting it to become a regional hub for investors in the near future," he stated.

"The transaction follows an extremely successful year of executions for us in the GCC where we advised on landmark listings such as Acwa Power’s offering on Tadawul, Adnoc Drilling’s milestone IPO on the ADX, and Fertiglobe’s listing on the ADX," added Fahmi.

A fully integrated utilities company, Dewa owns 70% of Empower, one of the world’s largest district cooling services providers by connected capacity, and is also the lynchpin of the emirate’s net-zero energy transition by 2050.

Dewa said it had added 16 substations at its Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum Solar Park and another district in 2021 on the heels of expectations that the emirate’s population will grow to 5.8 million in 2040.

With the year just ended seeing energy demand increase by almost 10% in the emirate, it boosted the utility's investments in existing and completed electricity projects to AED9.5 billion ($2.59 billion).

Dewa said the DFM listing falls in line with Dubai’s plans to take 10 state-owned companies public this year as part of its efforts to deepen and diversify the capital market by bringing the index’s market capitalization to AED3 trillion ($816.86 billion) and in turn pave the way for stronger, more transparent governance structures.

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