Damac plans to list shares on Dubai Financial Market hit by delay

The postponement could last until November.

Plans by Damac, one of the UAE's leading high-end property developers, to list shares on the Dubai Financial Market have been delayed by a regulatory hitch.
The company, which has securities already listed on the London Stock Exchange in global depositary receipt (GDR) form, has had to postpone the proposed DFM listing, possibly until November.
The company, headed by the multi-billionaire Hussain Sajwani, said the listing would go ahead, but "later than expected", and that it would be on "substantially the same terms as the previous offer".
Damac had proposed to convert one GDR into 23.1 ordinary shares, and that ratio is expected to remain the same.
The original deadline timetable would have let Damac ordinary shares be traded on the DFM by October 6.
A source close to the company, who did not want to be named, said: "The board has given 100 per cent approval to the plan, and more than 70 per cent of GDR holders have also approved it, so it will go ahead".
The process of applying to the UAE regulatory and market authorities for approval to list will have to begin again, but the source said there was no question the listing would take place. "There is no concern. It's purely a matter of paperwork," he added.
Damac listed GDRs - a form of quasi-ordinary shares with less rigid listing requirements - in London in December last year. They have since climbed almost 60 per cent as the Dubai property market has recovered to 2008 levels.
With a market capitalisation of just over US$4billion, Damac is one of the UAE's most valuable corporate assets. Some 15 per cent was floated in GDR form, with Mr Sajwani ultimately owning the balance.
The GDRs dropped 5 per cent in London morning trade, to the lowest in more than a month.
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