Dubai Taxi shares jump 19% in debut trading

Dubai Taxi

• $315m initial public offering
• Dubai best Gulf market in 2023

Dubai Taxi Company shares rose by 19 percent in its debut trading on Thursday after a $315 million initial public offering (IPO), marking the emirate’s first privatisation in over a year.

Shares in Dubai Taxi opened at AED2.20 ($0.60) on the Dubai Financial Market, according to data from the stock exchange website.

The offer price per share was AED1.85 ($0.50) – at the top of a marketed range – with the share sale 130 times oversubscribed, drawing orders worth over AED150 billion ($41 billion).

• IPO order book for Dubai taxi hits $41bn on strong demand
• Abu Dhabi IPO Fund plans up to four listings by 2024-end
• Mena IPOs drop but analysts still bullish for 2024

“This represents the highest oversubscription level achieved by an IPO on the Dubai Financial Market,” Dubai Taxi, a subsidiary of the state-owned Roads and Transport Authority, said. 

Dubai is the Gulf’s best-performing market this year, with the benchmark index up almost 20 percent, partly driven by a jump in property-related shares, according to data from Bloomberg. 

The GCC accounted for all of the 29 IPOs that took place in the Middle East and North Africa in the first nine months of the year, according to EY’s Mena IPO Eye Q3 report. Total proceeds stood at $5.8 billion. 

“IPOs remain driven by the dominant economies of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are pursuing their strategic agenda of increasing capital market activity on the local exchanges and stepping up efforts to attract foreign investment,” Brad Watson, EY Mena strategy and transactions leader, said in the report. 

Cryptocurrency mining hardware seller Phoenix Retailer’s shares jumped 35 percent on its Abu Dhabi debut on Tuesday, giving the company a market capitalisation of AED12.3 billion and making it the first crypto-related listing in the Middle East. 

Healthcare firm PureHealth is seeking to raise $1 billion in an Abu Dhabi listing. 

Speaking on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi Finance Week last month, Abu Dhabi IPO Fund’s advisory head Bassel Khawaja said the emirate can expect up to four further listings of private companies by the end of 2024.