His Excellency Essa Kazim: "The 'Second Market' provides new route for growth and development of private companies and further strengthen the leading position of capital market in the UAE"

Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Humaid Al Noaimi: The listing will reinforce the company's position locally and regionally

Dubai, 26 November 2015

AlSafwa Islamic Financial Services became the first private joint stock company that lists its shares on the (Second Market) of Dubai Financial Market (DFM), as the exchange today welcomed the listing of the company under the trading symbol (ALSAFWA).

The 'Second Market' brings significant value for the businesses and investors alike as it enables the trading, clearing and settlement of private companies' shares within a regulated and advance environment through electronic trading system.  The listing also enables the dissemination of information about the private company and its latest development, which creates a fair and transparent environment for trading. Trading information of the private companies will be displayed on the main Market Watch however; it will be clearly marked with a special icon. The listing on the 'Second Market' might be an initial step that paves the way for private companies to go public and list on the main market at a later stage.

Commenting on this, His Excellency Essa Kazim, Chairman of DFM said; "We are delighted to welcome the listing of AlSafwa Islamic Financial Services to our list of leading issuers and the first private joint stock company to join the 'Second Market'. This step underlines the confidence of private and public companies' alike in DFM as a leading platform for issuers and investors in the UAE and beyond due to its all-inclusive infrastructure, state-of-the-art electronic systems, and world-class services equal to the best developed markets internationally."

"Through its history, DFM has been playing an active role in enabling issuers to avail capital market benefits including; raising necessary funds to implement their growth strategy, evaluating their assets within fair and transparent trading environment as well as strengthening links with current and potential investors locally and internationally. The private companies play a significant economy role and the 'Second Market' offers them the opportunity to gain from the listing and prepare for a new phase of growth by further embracing best practices of transparency, Corporate Governance and Investor Relations. Over the past years, DFM has been constantly engaged in widespread efforts to support private and family businesses' preparation for capital market environment whether through going public and list on the main market or selecting the 'Second Market' route. The outlook for developing this market seems promising considering that 150 private joint stock companies are registered in the UAE with a total capital of AED 143 billion. Many of them have succeefully adopted international best practices of management, Corporate Governance and Investor Relations and already competent to start the listing journey," H.E. Essa Kazim added.   

Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Humaid Al Noaimi, Chairman of Al Safwa Islamic Financial Services said: "We are pleased to see our company's shares commencing trading as the first private joint stock company to list on DFM. The listing will reinforce the company's position locally and regionally in order to serve larger numbers of clients, to carry on with our development plans as well as attracting broader investor base."

"This step stems from the company's ambitious plans to expand its activities in the local and regional markets and provide our clients with various financial services. The company was established in 2006 with a capital of AED 130 million and received a license from the Securities and Commodities Authority in August 2006 to provide brokerage services to its clients on DFM and ADX", Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Humaid Al Noaimi added.

It is noteworthy that the reference price of the share is AED 1, the company's share will be freely traded on its debut date, and the DFM fluctuation band of 15% up and 10% down will be applied on this share from day two.

-Ends-

About Dubai Financial Market:
Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was established as a public institution with its own independent corporate body. DFM operates as a secondary market for the trading of securities issued by public shareholding companies, bonds issued by the Federal Government or any of the local Governments and public institutions in the country, units of investment funds and any other financial instruments, local or foreign, which are accepted by the market. The DFM commenced operations on March 26, 2000. Following its initial public offering in November 2006, when DFM offered 1.6 billion shares, representing 20 per cent of its paid-up capital of AED 8 billion, DFM became a public joint stock company. Following the IPO, the Government of Dubai retained the remaining 80 per cent of DFM Company through Borse Dubai Limited. www.dfm.ae

For further information, please contact: Atef Fathy, Vice President - Head of Media & Public Relations, Dubai Financial Market. Tel: 04-3055334.

Email: afathy@dfm.ae                                                                                                         

© Press Release 2015