Shares of Dewa surge in ME’s record IPO

Shares of Dewa, the Dubai Water and Electricity Authority, rose more than 20% on Tuesday after the giant utility business went public for the first time, marking the region’s first such offering.

In the first few minutes of trading, shares on the Dubai Financial Market exchange were trading at 3.02 UAE dirhams (82 cents), compared to the IPO price of 2.48 dirhams per share. By 1 p.m. local time, they had given up some of their gains and were trading at 2.88 dirhams per share.

Dewa stated in March that it would sell a 6.5 percent stake in the company in a public offering of 3.25 billion shares. The company announced ahead of the IPO that more than 65,000 local, regional, and worldwide investors participated, raising $6.1 billion.

Since Saudi state oil firm Aramco went public on the kingdom’s Tadawul exchange in 2019, the utility’s float is the largest ever in the UAE and the largest in the Middle East.