Private utilities company Utico plans Dhs3bn listing on Dubai market in 2021

Utico, the UAE’s only private water and power company, said that it intends to list the company on the Dubai Financial Market in 2021.

Utico said its advisors were currently in negotiations to list the company through a Dhs3bn valuation IPO in the emirate later this year.

“It is a co-incidence that the government’s decree that all private joint stock companies and international private companies which derive greater than 50% of their profits from the UAE to be listed in the local securities exchanges, and our own intent to list in the UAE is pleasantly in line with the vision of the country’s leadership,” said Richard Menezes, CEO of Utico.

Read: UAE’s Utico says signs deal to rescue Singapore’s Hyflux

It intends to list 20-30 per cent of the company, and this will offer forward multiples in the range of about 11.

It said that investors could expect a stable incremental dividend increase by 8-10 per cent thereafter.

Menezes added that shareholders of Utico will finalize the dilution after due consultation with advisors and market regulators.

Utico, services 5 emirates within the UAE, and was awarded Dubai’s largest Hassyan IWP desalination project for 35 years supply, as well as winning a water supply project in Oman with the lowest IWP tariff in the sultanate.

It currently serves a population of about 200,000 and holds a market share of 20 per cent in the areas it serves.

It is reportedly the largest private full service utility provider in the region and has a current presence in seven