DEWA increases stake size in IPO from 6.5% to 17%, around $5.7 billion

Decision to increase size of IPO based on strong investor demand and oversubscription across all tranches.

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has increased the number of shares offered in its initial public offering (IPO) from 3,250,000,000 ordinary shares to 8,500,000,000 ordinary shares.

This has resulted in a free float of 17 per cent of DEWA’s share capital, up from previously announced 6.5 per cent, making this the Emirate's biggest IPO listing ever.

The Government of Dubai will continue to own 83 per cent of DEWA’s share capital.

The announcement followed an approval from the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). DEWA has also received approval from the SCA to increase the size of the tranche reserved for qualified investors (which includes the new Strategic Investors) from 5.9 per cent (representing up to 2,925,000,000 shares) to up to 16.4 per cent of the company’s share capital (representing up to 8,175,000,000 shares).

Excluding the New Strategic Investors, who are locked up for between 180 and 365 days, the deal (including previously announced cornerstones) increases from 6.5 per cent to 10 per cent of the Company’s share capital. The retail tranche will remain unchanged at Dhs731m-Dhs806m.

On March 24, DEWA announced the start of the subscription period for its initial public offering and announced the price range of the shares. The price range is set between Dhs2.25-Dhs2.48 per share.

The subscription period for the DEWA IPO remains unchanged and will close on April 2, 2022 for UAE retail investors and on April 5, 2022 for qualified domestic and international institutional investors.

DEWA is expected to list on the Dubai Financial Market on or around April 12, 2022.

News Source: Gulf Business