Dubai district cooling firm Empower rises in trading debut after $724 million IPO

Dubai district cooling firm Empower rises in trading debut after $724 million IPO

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corp. rose in its Dubai debut following an initial public offering that attracted $34 billion in orders, underscoring the continued appetite for listings in the oil-rich Gulf.

Empower, as the district cooling firm is known, jumped as much as 9 percent to 1.45 dirhams ($0.39), valuing it at about $4 billion. The shares later pared some gains to trade up 2.3 percent Wednesday morning.

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The Gulf has been one of the world’s most active IPO markets in 2022, a year otherwise marked by deep asset-sell-offs and fears of recession. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh have been buoyed by oil trading near $100 a barrel and investor inflows.

Empower shareholders Dubai Electricity & Water Authority PJSC and Emirates Power Investment doubled the size of the firm’s offering to 20 percent in the face of huge demand. In all, they sold 2 billion shares at 1.33 dirhams each, the top of the pricing range, raising 2.66 billion dirhams.

Empower is Dubai’s fourth privatization in recent months as the financial hub seeks to ramp up liquidity. The IPOs have raised about $8.32 billion combined.

Still, not all