DUBAI - UAE-based exchange house Al Ansari Financial Services is looking to raise up to 772.5 million dirhams ($210.4 million) from an initial public offering (IPO), it said on Thursday.
Al Ansari, which last week announced an intention to float 10% of the company on the Dubai Financial Market, will price its shares between 1.00 and 1.03 dirhams, implying a valuation of 7.5 billion - 7.73 billion dirhams, it said in a statement.
Books were covered shortly after opening, according to a note to investors seen by Reuters.
Middle East companies bucked global trends last year to raise about $22 billion through IPOs, according to Dealogic, which was more than half the total for the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
UAE's National Bonds Corp, owned by the sovereign wealth fund Investment Corporation of Dubai, has committed 200 million dirhams as a cornerstone investor in Al Ansari's IPO, the exchange house said.
The subscription for the IPO began on Thursday and will run through March 23 for retail investors in the UAE and March 24 for qualified investors. The financial price of the shares will be set on March 27, with the listing likely on April 6.
The firm is targeting a minimum dividend a 600 million dirhams for 2023, to be paid out in October and in April next year.
The offer price range implies a minimum dividend yield of about 7.77% to 8.99% in the 2023 financial year, Al Ansari said in a statement.
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