Dubai might list rather sooner than later some of its top performing state-owned companies on the local stock market, in parallel to listings on the London Stock Exchange. This information was recently shared by Dubai’s financial chief Mohammed Al Shaibani in an interview for The Telegraph. Al Shaibani revealed that one of the companies that could be offered to the public is Emirates. Hi did not say when this would happen. However, he explained that it would not be soon. That was because more value could be added to the companies. Still, Dubai’s financial chief is confident that this step would be a great opportunity for the emirate to raise capital.
It is estimated that this move could bring revenues of billions of dollars for Dubai. Only the annual revenues of Emirates Airlines amount to over $21 billion. Moreover, the company is constantly growing and expanding. In fact, it is expected that it will serve about 70 million passengers per year after 5 – 6 years. This is an astonishing estimate given that Emirates serves half that number today. If the prognosis is correct, Emirates Airlines might operate around 250 aircraft by 2020. That is probably why Dubai is not willing to list its highest prized companies at the present moment. However, after the recent listing of DAMAC properties on the London Stock Exchange, the probability of dual listing for UAE’s home-grown brands seem much stronger.
Dubai will definitely opt for a secondary listing and the London Stock Exchange is a good alternative for that due to purely strategic reasons. As a matter of fact, Dubai Chronicle’s ream has found the already created and updated entry for Emirates on the London Stock Exchange.
In general, UAE views the UK as a key spot for future investment. Mohammed Al Shaibani explained that Dubai has many entities on the island, which make the country’s stock market an even more appropriate choice.
Emirates Airline would not be the only state-governed company that could be listed. Many other of Dubai’s biggest and most profitable companies might also follow the same path such as Dubai Airports, the aluminum smelting company of the emirate, as well as GEMS Education might also be among them.
