Dubai business park operator TECOM Group on Thursday set the price range for its international price offering (IPO) at between 2.46 dirham ($0.66) and 2.67 dirham per share, potentially raising up to 1.7 billion dirhams ($454 million). 

A member of Dubai Holding group, TECOM plans to sell 625 million shares, or 12.5 percent of issued share capital. The price range implies a market capitalisation of between $3.4 billion and $3.6 billion. 

UAE Strategic Investment Fund and Shamal Holding will be the "cornerstone" investors in the listing, with a combined commitment of 283.75 million dirhams. They will have their shares subject to a 180-day lock-up arrangement, following the listing. 

TECOM operates ten business parks and districts across the emirate, including Dubai Internet City, Dubai Outsource City and Dubai Media City. 

The IPO subscription period starts today and runs until June 23, 2022 for the retail investors and until June 24, 2022 for institutional investors. 

The final offer price will be determined through a book-building process and is expected to be announced on June 27. The company plans to list its shares on the Dubai Financial Market on July 5, 2022. 

Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs International, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG are joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the IPO. 

TECOM is also offering an attractive dividend yield of between 6 percent and 6.5 percent, based on a dividend payout of 800 million dirhams over the next three years, according to an earlier statement. 

The TECOM IPO will be the second offering by the Dubai government in 2022 as part of a strategy to boost trading volumes and increase liquidity on the bourse. 

In April, Dubai's utility giant DEWA raised $6.1 billion in the world’s second-biggest IPO this year. 

(Reporting by Brinda Darasha; editing by Cleofe Maceda)  

brinda.darasha@lseg.com