Dubai's Emaar Properties EMAR.DU is seeking to raise as much as 5.8 billion dirhams ($1.58 billion) from an initial public offer of shares in its shopping malls unit that is expected to be the Gulf's biggest stock sale since 2008. Emaar, the emirate's largest real estate developer, expects to sell 2 billion shares in Emaar Malls Group (EMG), representing 15.4 percent of its share capital, in a price range of 2.50 to 2.90 dirhams per share, it said on Sunday. At the mid-point of that range, EMG's market capitalization upon listing its shares would be approximately 35.1 billion dirhams, said Emaar, the builder of the world's tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa. The share sale starts on Sunday and will end on Sept. 24 for retail investors and on Sept. 26 for institutional investors. EMG shares will then list on the Dubai Financial Market on Oct. 2. Since Dubai's 2009 financial crisis, Emaar's retailing business has benefited from a strong rebound in the emirate's economy on the back of a tourism and trade boom. Emaar said its malls unit made a profit of 617.2 million dirhams in the first half of 2014, up from 498 million dirhams a year earlier. Revenue in the six months to June 30 was 1.25 billion dirhams, compared to 1.11 billion dirhams a year ago. All of EMG's properties are located in Dubai and 82 percent of the company's rental income in the first six months of 2014 came from its largest asset, The Dubai Mall, one of the world's largest shopping malls, it said in its prospectus. Dubai's government owns about 30 percent of Emaar Properties, which plans to pay a special dividend related to the IPO of around 9 billion dirhams to its shareholders; 5.3 billion dirhams from the IPO proceeds and 3.7 billion dirhams from a dividend already paid by EMG to its parent. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BAC.N), JP Morgan Chase (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) are joint global coordinators of the offer, with four other banks acting as joint bookrunners. Source : Reuters
