Dubai’s financial markets have become a vital platform for businesses to raise additional capital, with share offerings raising billions of dirhams and attracting huge investor influx in recent years.

Entities seeking to raise funds through the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) attracted a total of AED 34.5 billion ($9.4 billion) in proceeds from initial public offerings (IPOs) in the last three years, according to a report.

The market has such a huge appetite for share sales that demand has surpassed AED 1 trillion since 2021. 

Both the DFM and Nasdaq Dubai have also seen listings of 155 bonds and sukuk valued at AED 484 billion over the same period.

Overall, the DFM posted record-breaking performance last year alone, when it crossed the 4,000-point milestone for the first time in nearly a decade, thanks to a significant increase in trading activities, capital inflows and new investors.

The local bourse has seen an influx of 230,000 new investors since 2022.

“Dubai’s capital markets have emerged as a vital platform for regional and international entities seeking to raise capital or secure funding for their growth and expansion endeavours,” a statement from Dubai Media Office said.

Demand for share sales has remained robust this year. The latest to launch an IPO, Parkin Co. PJSC has just recorded $71 billion of orders for its $429 million IPO in Dubai.

The UAE accounted for more than half or nearly 56.3% of the GCC region’s IPO proceeds in 2023, according to Kamco Invest. During the year, IPOs in the UAE raised around $6.07 billion.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com