Page 229 - AAE PR REPORT - June 2024

5/29/24, 3:54 PM PRESSR: DIFC publishes Regional Outlook for Banking and Capital Markets — TradingView News
Another recent example includes the November 2023 listing of Dubai

Taxi Co., a unit of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA),

which raised USD 315mn and was 130 times oversubscribed, while

Saudi Arabia’s wider plans to privatise USD 55bn in assets by 2025

reinforce the increasing regional trend towards privatisation.

From the private sector, the listing of family-owned companies is

helping to drive business growth, succession planning and enhanced

governance and transparency. For example, Al Ansari Financial

Services, one of the UAE’s largest remittance and foreign currency

exchange companies, owned by a local family group raised USD

210mn from its 2023 IPO, while Spinney’s (Spinneys 1961 Holding

PLC), which was incorporated in DIFC to list its shares on DFM,

thereby benefiting from its extensive laws, regulations, and stability,

listed in April 2024.

Spurred on by the momentum of other, highly anticipated listings,

such as Lulu’s forthcoming IPO, there is now an ever-growing list of

demonstrable incentives for other family businesses to follow suit. A

third wave of IPOs is expected through FinTech and tech-enabled

start-up exits, helping to stimulate new industries with high-growth

potential, while creating strong demand from investors and viable

exit options for VC investors.

Dubai as a Capital Markets Hub

Through increased IPO activity, banks, investment banks, brokerage

firms and law firms within DIFC’s ecosystem also benefitted

significantly from the privatisation of state enterprises, with fees for

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