Dubai’s Parkin sets IPO price range of up to Dhs2.1 per share

Dubai’s Parkin, which oversees public parking operations in the emirate, has set the price range for its planned initial public offering (IPO) at Dhs2 to Dhs2.1 ($0.57) per share, it said on Tuesday.

The company will offer about a 25 per cent stake, in the emirate’s first privatisation deal this year, giving it an overall valuation of up to Dhs6.3bn ($1.72bn).

The book-building period will run March 5-13 and the final price is expected to be announced on March 14, Parkin said in a statement, adding its debut on the local bourse is forecast for March 21.

Parkin operated about 179,000 paid public parking spaces across Dubai as of the end of last year, of which 4,000 or so were at multi-storey car parks. It also manages an additional 18,000 spaces at developer-owned facilities, it said.

The parking company, which expects to make its bourse debut this month, posted revenue of Dhs779m in 2023, up 14 per cent from a year earlier, while its core profit rose 23 per cent to Dhs414m.

Parkin is RTA’s latest IPO

Reuters was the first to report in June that the emirate’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) was considering strategic options for its parking business and invited banks to pitch for roles in a potential IPO.

The RTA is monetising assets on behalf of the Dubai government as part of a wider privatisation programme to list state-linked companies and boost attention to its exchange, as the city keeps attracting droves of wealthy individuals and experiencing strong population growth.

The RTA raised $1bn from the sale of a 25 per cent stake in toll-road operator Salik in 2022 and another $315m in December from the sale of another 24.99 per cent stake in Dubai Taxi Corporation, its public taxi business.

Both deals garnered strong demand from investors and were oversubscribed multiple times.

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