Dubai district cooling firm Empower to sell ten percent stake in IPO

Dubai district cooling firm Empower to sell ten percent stake in IPO

Dubai plans to sell a ten percent stake in Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corp., the city’s fourth privatization this year as part of a drive to boost trading volumes on the stock exchange.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and Emirates Power Investment will offer one billion shares in an initial public offering, according to an advertisement in Gulf News.

The district cooling firm, known as Empower, will start taking investor orders for the IPO from October 31, with pricing scheduled for November 9.

Empower’s IPO is part of the government’s privatization drive to increase liquidity and catch up with a flurry of share sales in neighboring Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. Dubai’s three listings this year, including that of Dubai Electricity, have raised about $7.6 billion combined.

High oil prices and investor inflows have driven a IPO boom across the energy-rich Gulf, with firms finding overwhelming levels of demand at a time when listings have shuddered to a halt in most other markets.

The Middle East is headed for its second-best year after 2019, which saw the record $29.4 billion IPO of Saudi oil giant Aramco.

An earlier rally in regional equities has