Dubai set out initiatives aimed at increasing the total volume of its stock market to 3 trillion United Arab Emirates dirhams, in an effort to boost trading and attract liquidity following a string of delistings and growing competition from regional rivals.
Dubai deputy ruler Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who heads the emirate's securities and exchange higher committee, announced plans to launch a 2 billion dirham market-maker fund, state news agency WAM reported.
As part of the move, Dubai is listing 10 government and state-owned companies on the Dubai Financial Market PJSC, or DFM, and will establish a 1 billion dirham fund to attract tech listings. It also merged its economic and tourism departments into one entity tasked with encouraging businesses to list, Bloomberg News wrote.
The DFM exchange, which has hosted only one IPO since 2018, has trailed other major Gulf exchanges such as Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the UAE's other bourse, and Saudi Arabia's Tadawul, which were both boosted by a recent surge in offerings worth billions of dollars, Bloomberg noted.
Since 2020, Dubai's stock market has seen the delisting of prominent companies such as parks operator DXB Entertainments PJSC and ports operator DP World Ltd., while real estate developer Emaar Properties PJSC is set to delist unit Emaar Malls PJSC by the end of 2021, Reuters noted. It suffered another setback earlier this year after logistics firm Tristar Transport PJSC, its only listing prospect for 2021, dropped its IPO plans, Bloomberg wrote.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, regulators have opened the door for special purpose acquisition companies, which raise capital in an IPO with the aim of acquiring a private company that becomes publicly traded.
The Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority said it will now allow the establishment and licensing of SPACs in the country to attract more investors, Arab News wrote.
The Egyptian Exchange, or EGX, has staged seven listings since 2018, the most recent one being that of state-run payments company e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments SAE, which marked the biggest IPO on the bourse since 2015. Officials have said they plan to restart by the year-end a stalled program to float or sell additional stakes in state-run companies, Bloomberg reported in September.
Other news
* Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority approved stock exchange Tadawul's application to offer 36 million shares, representing 30% of its share capital, in an IPO that could value it at between $3 billion and $4 billion. Tadawul CEO Khalid al-Hussan said the bourse aims to start trading in December, while its clearinghouse is expected to be fully operational in early 2022, Bloomberg wrote.
* The board of the Dubai Financial Market named Hamed Ahmed Ali CEO, replacing Hassan al-Serkal. Ali has been deputy CEO and chief markets officer of the Dubai stock exchange, Mubasher and Argaam reported. The board also created a new compliance committee to oversee market regulations, Gulf News wrote.
* Saudi Arabian Islamic finance firm Nayifat Finance Co. completed the bookbuilding process for its IPO, which was 136x oversubscribed and generated an order book of 162 billion riyals. The final offer price was set at 34 riyals per share.
* Moody's revised the outlook on Saudi Arabia to stable from negative, citing the increased likelihood the government will, in the next few years, reverse most of the 2020 rise in its debt burden while also conserving its fiscal capital buffers.
* Kenyan bank Equity Group Holdings PLC posted a profit after tax, exceptional items and minority interest of 26.34 billion shillings in the nine months to Sept. 30, up from 14.81 billion shillings a year ago. CEO James Mwangi said the lender plans to sell part of the roughly 361 billion shillings of government securities it holds and use its cash reserves of 180 billion shillings to bolster lending and yield more interest income, Bloomberg reported.
* Kuwait-based Burgan Bank KPSC reported a 65% increase in third-quarter profit attributable to owners of the parent company to 16.3 million dinars from 9.8 million dinars.
* The private equity arm of South African insurer Old Mutual Ltd. is in discussions to acquire investment firm Long4life Ltd., insiders told Bloomberg. Long4Life's valuation amounted to roughly 4.1 billion rand as of Nov. 2 market close.
* The United Nations launched the liquidity and sustainability facility, or LSF, a new repo market for the African region aimed at improving sovereign access to international bond markets for African countries. It is estimated to save governments in the region about $11 billion in borrowing costs in the next five years, the Financial Times of London wrote.
* Oman-based Sohar International Bank SAOG received a license from Saudi Arabia's central bank to open a full-fledged branch in the country.
* Nigeria's central bank granted in-principle approval for MTN Nigeria Communications PLC's application for a license to operate its proposed MoMo Payment Service Bank Ltd.
Rehan Ahmad and Abdelghani Henni contributed to this article.
