IPO values DP World at $21.58b

Dubai port operator DP World has launched a share sale for retail investors in the UAE in an initial public offering that values the company at $21.58 billion.

The IPO is in the form of a 20 per cent sale of shares by DP World's sole shareholder Port & Free Zone World, a government-owned entity, which will retain majority ownership.

This makes DP World IPO the biggest such exercise in the Gulf, exceeding the Saudi Telecom share offering that raised $4.08 billion in 2003.

DP World set an indicative price for each share between $1 and $1.30.

It is offering 2.822 billion shares to individual and institutional investors with a greenshoe option of 498 million shares if there is further demand.

Retail and institutional investors will pay the same final price to be determined during a bidding process. 'Our pre-marketing has indicated that potential investors are interested in a medium to long-term investment in our shares,' the company's vice chairman Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah said.

DP World, the world's number three port operator by container throughput, has 43 terminals in 23 countries.

Source:The StockHouse Network