Dubai's Tecom Group, the operator of business districts that are home to more than 7,800 companies, may raise as much as Dh1.67 billion ($455 million) from its initial public offering on the Dubai Financial Market.
The company set its offering price range between Dh2.46 and Dh2.67 a share, valuing it at between Dh12.3bn and Dh13.4bn, Tecom said on Thursday.
Dubai Holding will sell 625 million shares, or 12.5 per cent in Tecom, as part of a series of IPOs of state enterprises aimed at boosting the size of the emirate's capital market.
The UAE Strategic Investment Fund and Shamal Holding will be cornerstone investors in the IPO, with a total commitment of Dh283.75m ($77.3m).
Tecom comprises 10 business districts that include Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Design District.
The subscription period for retail investors runs from June 16 to June 23, and until June 24 for qualified institutional investors.
The final offer price will be determined through a book-building process and will be announced on June 27, with Tecom shares beginning to trade on the Dubai stock exchange on July 5, subject to market conditions and the obtaining of relevant regulatory approvals in the UAE.
Last year, Dubai announced plans to list 10 state-owned companies as part of its strategy to double the size of its capital market to Dh3 trillion and attract foreign investment.
The emirate also announced plans to set up a Dh2bn market maker fund to encourage the listing of more private companies from sectors such as energy, logistics and retail.
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority — which operates as a vertically integrated multi-utility, with business activities including electricity generation, transmission and distribution, water desalination and district cooling — was the first government entity to list on the DFM.
The utility, which listed shares in April in the largest public float in the Middle East and Europe since Saudi Aramco went public in 2019, raised Dh22.41 billion ($6.1bn) from its IPO.
Tecom said its current available land bank of 375.3 hectares (40.4 million square feet) and access to additional land through an exclusive right of first offer with Dubai Holding Asset Management serve as a bedrock for future growth.
Nine of Tecom's 10 business districts are located in free zones that permit 100 per cent foreign ownership, with tenants including Meta, Google, Visa, BBC, CNN, Unilever and Dior.
The districts allow the complete repatriation of profits and employ more than 100,000 people in areas related to non-oil sectors that include technology, media, science, education, design and manufacturing.
Dubai's purchasing manager's index for the month of May showed that the emirate's non-oil business conditions hit a 35-month high, rising to 55.7, from 54.7 in April. This was the highest reading since June 2019.
Tecom has said it intends to pay dividends semi-annually — in October and April of each year, subject to the approval of its board and general assembly.
The company expects to pay a dividend of Dh800m annually over the next three years through to October 2025.
Tecom had about Dh1.77bn of revenue and Dh1.17bn in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) in 2021, with a 66.3 per cent ebitda margin.
The group recorded Dh485m in revenue for the first quarter of this year and Dh349m in ebitda, with a 72 per cent ebitda margin.
The lead receiving bank is Emirates NBD. Other receiving banks include First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mashreq Bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Ajman Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Sharjah Islamic Bank.
Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS have been appointed as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners.
Tecom Group operates the following business districts:
• Technology cluster: consists of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource City.
• Media cluster: consists of Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City and Dubai Production City.
• Education cluster: consists of Dubai International Academic City and the Dubai Knowledge Park.
• Science cluster: consists of Dubai Science Park.
• Design cluster: consists of Dubai Design District.
• Manufacturing cluster: consists of Dubai Industrial City.
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
Fighting with My Family
Director: Stephen Merchant
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Florence Pugh, Thomas Whilley, Tori Ellen Ross, Jack Lowden, Olivia Bernstone, Elroy Powell
Four stars
Results:
5pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic (PA) Prestige Dh 110,000 1.400m | Winner: AF Mouthirah, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic (PA) Prestige Dh 110,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Saab, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 1,600m | Winner: Majd Al Gharbia, Saif Al Balushi, Ridha ben Attia
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship (PA) Listed Dh 180,000 1,600m | Winner: RB Money To Burn, Pat Cosgrave, Eric Lemartinel
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap Dh 70,000 2,200m | Winner: AF Kafu, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 100,000 2,400m | Winner: Brass Ring, Fabrice Veron, Ismail Mohammed
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Meydan card
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (PA) Group 1 US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.05pm: Conditions (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,400m
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) $100,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,200m
8.50pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (TB) Group 2 $350,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,600m
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
Captain Marvel
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn
4/5 stars
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
THE BIO: Mohammed Ashiq Ali
Proudest achievement: “I came to a new country and started this shop”
Favourite TV programme: the news
Favourite place in Dubai: Al Fahidi. “They started the metro in 2009 and I didn’t take it yet.”
Family: six sons in Dubai and a daughter in Faisalabad
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