Shares In Dubai Parks And Resorts Open Well Below IPO Price

Shares in Dubai Parks and Resorts (DPR), which is building a $2.9 billion amusement park complex in the emirate, opened sharply below their initial public offer price as they listed on Wednesday.

The drop was a fresh sign of a collapse of sentiment among retail investors in Dubai, who have dumped stocks as oil prices have hit five-year lows in recent weeks.

The stock opened at Dhs0.931, below the Dhs1.00 IPO price. It then fell further to Dhs0.87 as Dubai’s main stock index slid 0.9 per cent in early trade.

It was the second case in Dubai in recent weeks of a stock opening below its IPO price. Shares in Amanat Holdings, a healthcare and education start-up which listed at the end of last month, are still trading below their IPO price of Dhs1.00.

DPR’s share offer was many times oversubscribed and drew the attention of sovereign wealth funds Kuwait Investment Authority and Qatar Investment Authority. But the portion of the IPO allocated to Dubai’s retail investors, who dominate trading in the emirate, was only 1.63 times oversubscribed, much lower than offers earlier this year such as Emaar Malls Group.