Dubai’s Emaar Says Malls Unit Public Share Offer To Open Sept. 14

Dubai’s Emaar Properties will launch the initial public offer of its shopping malls and retailing unit on Sept. 14, and will list the subsidiary on Dubai’s main stock market on Oct. 2, the developer said on Sunday.

The offer would be one of the largest equity sales in the Middle East since 2008, underlining Dubai’s recovery from a credit crisis that forced many state-linked developers to stall projects, and some to restructure debt.

Emaar will sell 1.95 billion shares or more of Emaar Malls Group, representing not less than 15 per cent of the share capital, it said in a statement on Dubai’s bourse. The mall unit’s share capital was determined at Dhs13 billion ($3.54 billion), it added.

The IPO will be divided into two tranches, one for retail investors and one for institutions. Both will open on Sept. 14, when Emaar will announce the share price range for the sale.

The final price will be determined through a book-building process. The retail offer will close on Sept. 24 and the institutional offer on Sept. 26, Emaar said in the statement.

It aims to allocate at least 60 per cent of the shares on offer to institutions and no more than 40 per cent to retail investors. It will sell at least a 15 per cent stake in the malls unit through the IPO.

The malls unit has a net asset value of Dhs33.2 billion($9.0 billion), the statement added. Its main asset is Dubai Mall, one of the world’s largest shopping centres.

Shares of Emaar dropped 1.3 per cent at 0640 GMT, in line with the Dubai bourse that was also down 1.3 per cent.

Dubai’s government owns about 30 per cent of the developer, which said last week it would pay a dividend of around Dhs9 billion to its shareholders; Dhs5.3 billion from the IPO proceeds and Dhs3.7 billion from a dividend already paid by EMG to its parent.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are joint global coordinators of the offer, with four other banks acting as joint bookrunners.