Dubai Electricity & Water Authority: emirate invigorates stock market with privatisations

Dubai Electricity & Water Authority: emirate invigorates stock market with privatisations

Investors keen on the listing of the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority bought up the shares by the bucketful on its first day of trading Tuesday. Dewa, as it is known, had already increased the size of its share offering twice before settling on $6.1bn for 18 per cent of the equity. That made it the largest initial public offering in the Middle East since Saudi Aramco in 2019. Its shares jumped 15 per cent on their debut valuing Dewa at almost $39bn.

Dubai has developed a reputation as a place for companies and individuals seeking lighter touch regulation, according to the Carnegie Endowment. Even so, its financial sector has fallen behind regional competitors in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. Dubai’s stock index has underperformed and new listings have failed to keep pace.

Dubai hopes a programme of partial privatisations starting with Dewa can improve matters. Others to come from a list of 10 include toll road operator Salic and district cooling operator Empower, which is 70 per cent owned by Dewa. One other privatisation which investors have awaited, that of Emirates airline, has yet to be announced.

Dewa’s power generation comes mostly from gas turbines. Just over a tenth is from renewables such