Property Developer Damac Looks To List Shares On Dubai Bourse

Dubai luxury property developer Damac is offering investors the option of converting its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), listed on the London bourse, into ordinary shares that would be listed on Dubai’s main stock market.

Investors would get around 23.08 shares per GDR. They have until September 2 to decide on the offer, the developer said in a statement to the London bourse on Wednesday.

No new shares would be listed and executive chairman Hussain Sajwani would continue to hold 85 per cent of the company.

“Those investors who choose not to participate in the offer will continue to hold their GDRs, which will remain traded on the London Stock Exchange,” Sajwani said in the statement. The offer is conditional on the Dubai bourse approving the conversion.

The listing would be a boost for the Dubai Financial Market; new listings dried up after the emirate’s financial crisis erupted in 2009, but are now showing signs of a revival. Retailing and restaurants group Marka plans to list on the DFM in the second week of September, while Emaar Properties aims to list its malls unit this year.

Damac listed in London last December at $12.25 per GDR. The GDRs closed at $16.09 there on Wednesday. In May, the company said its net profit for the first quarter rose 79 per cent as it benefited from buoyant conditions in its Dubai home market.