DUBAI: Dubai retailing and restaurants group Marka will list its shares on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on September 25 in the market’s first flotation for five years (since 2009), the company said yesterday.
New share issues dried up in Dubai when its financial crisis erupted five years ago and Marka’s flotation signals a reopening of the market as investment conditions improve. Marka initially planned to list its shares on the DFM around the first week of June, but the market was hit by volatility that month.
The firm raised Dh275m ($75m) in April through a share offer that was 36 times subscribed. Founded this year by prominent United Arab Emirates investors, it plans to spend the proceeds of the share sale on opening fashion retail outlets, restaurants and cafes across the region. Dubai’s Emaar Properties will begin offering shares in its shopping malls unit today, aiming to raise at least $1.4bn, and will list the shares on the DFM on October 2. Other share offers are believed to be in the pipeline.
Two companies have listed shares on the smaller of Dubai’s two stock markets, NASDAQ Dubai, over the past 12 months. Reuters
