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Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said on Wednesday it raised 22.3 billion dirhams ($6.1 billion) in the second biggest IPO in the Middle East.
In a statement, the state-backed utility said the Government of Dubai in its capacity as the selling shareholder has set the final offer price for the IPO at 2.48 dirhams per share. This gives DEWA a market capitalisation of 124 billion dirhams at listing .
Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, Dubai's deputy ruler and finance minister, said the international demand for DEWA’s IPO was a "testament of confidence in Dubai’s status as a trustworthy investment destination."
The utility floated 18% of its share capital last week. The Dubai government will continue to own 82% of DEWA's share capital. The stock is expected to begin trading on the Dubai Financial Market on 12 April 2022, under the symbol “DEWA” and ISIN “AED001801011.”
Total demand for DEWA shares amounted to 315 billion dirhams. Excluding cornerstone and strategic investors, the orderbook for the IPO was 37 times oversubscribed.
The total proceeds include commitments from cornerstone and strategic investors amounting to approximately 13.8 billion dirhams, it added.
DEWA's IPO, which comes as part of Dubai’s plan list 10 state-owned entities efforts to invigorate its moribund financial markets, is the biggest to date in the emirate. In 2019, Saudi Aramco's raised $29.4 billion in the world's biggest IPO.
(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Daniel Luiz)
