Reuters
Emaar Properties, Dubai’s largest listed developer, lifted the emirate’s bourse yesterday after announcing plans to float its Egyptian unit next year following the successful listing of its malls and retail business.
Shares in Emaar, the market’s second most heavily traded stock yesterday, jumped 3.1% to 11.50 dirhams and were the main support for Dubai’s index, which added 0.6%.
Mohamed Alabbar, Emaar’s chairman, said last Thursday that the company’s Egyptian unit, Emaar Misr, would go public around June 2015 and had a value of 3-4bn dirhams ($817mn-$1.09bn).
Alabbar also said the company could float its hotels business, but the board had yet to decide whether to go ahead with that.
Last month, Emaar floated its malls and retail unit in a $1.6bn offer that attracted huge investor demand. Shares in Emaar Malls Group, which surged 12.1% on their stock market debut last Thursday, added a further 0.9% yesterday. Emaar Malls was the day’s most heavily traded stock.
Emaar plans to use funds from the completed IPO to pay out a 9bn dirham dividend and its board will discuss the matter on October 9.
Egypt’s Naeem Brokerage raised its target price for Emaar to 14.61 dirhams from 11.96 dirhams with a “buy” recommendation, saying the unit spin-offs would help the company unlock value.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s index inched up 0.1% in low-volume trading on the back of blue chips Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi , which were up 0.5 and 0.3% respectively.
Outside the United Arab Emirates, major markets in the Middle East remained closed on Tuesday as the region celebrated the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Stock exchanges in Bahrain and Egypt will reopen today while bourses in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman will resume trading on October 12.