ANALYSIS-DAMAC delisting plan piles pressure on shrinking Dubai market

ANALYSIS-DAMAC delisting plan piles pressure on shrinking Dubai market

Dubai's stock market is set for another delisting, raising a question mark over the future of one of the Gulf's major exchanges, which was launched two decades ago.

A $595 million bid to take DAMAC Properties DAMAC.DU private by the firm's founder Hussain Sajwani is the latest blow to the exchange, even as the Gulf city state's property market showed signs of life in the first quarter.

"It is not that Dubai is becoming less attractive. Alternatives are becoming more attractive," Khaled Abdel Majeed, founder at London-based Mena Capital LLP, told Reuters.

Majeed said Dubai needs to work harder to attract listings amid growing competition from within the Gulf region such as Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia where Tadawul, the region's biggest exchange based on market value, wants to become a regional hub.