UAE's Salik Aims to Raise $817 Mn in Dubai IPO

Salik said its business model requires low capital expenditures (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Salik said its business model requires low capital expenditures (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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UAE's Salik Aims to Raise $817 Mn in Dubai IPO

Salik said its business model requires low capital expenditures (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Salik said its business model requires low capital expenditures (Asharq Al-Awsat)

vDubai's exclusive tollgate operator, Salik Company, announced the offer price and subscription period for its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), expecting to raise $817 million.

The price offering has been set at $0.5 per share, implying a market capitalization at a listing of $4 billion.

The company plans to offer a total of 1,500,000,000 ordinary shares, representing 20 percent ​​of Salik's total issued share capital, with the Selling Shareholder reserving the right to increase the size of the Offering at any time before the end of the subscription period at its sole discretion, subject to applicable laws and approval of the Securities & Commodities Authority (the SCA).

All shares to be offered shall represent the sale of existing shares held by the Government of Dubai.

Emirates' WAM news agency explained that the Offering is available to individuals and other investors in the UAE as defined in the prospectus in Arabic and referred to as "First Tranche" subscribers.

Certain eligible employees (the Eligible Employees) as defined in the UAE prospectus and referred to as "Third Tranche" subscribers; an offering to professional investors and other investors in several, including in the UAE, outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S and referred to as "Second Tranche" subscribers.

As part of the Qualified Investor Offering, and following both the Companies Law and the Dubai Law, five percent of the Offering will be reserved for the offer to the Emirates Investment Authority (EIA), and five percent of the Offering will be reserved for providing to the Pensions and Social Security Fund of Local Military Personnel.

The IPO subscription period runs until Sept. 20 for the UAE Retail Offering and Sept. 21 for the Qualified Investor Offering.

The Offering and Admission completion is expected to take place on Sept. 29, subject to market conditions and obtaining relevant regulatory approvals in the UAE, including support of Admission to listing and trading on the DFM.

Salik CEO, Ibrahim al-Haddad, said the company plays a vital role in Dubai's urban development plans.

Haddad explained that Salik's growth is coupled with the city's growth in general, and this Offering provides an essential opportunity for investors to be part of that journey.

"We are delighted by the strong interest we have received since announcing our intention to float."

Haddad indicated that investing in the company represents a unique opportunity for institutions and individuals alike, as a technologically advanced core infrastructure asset positioned to benefit from Dubai's expansion plans and given its unique capex-light business model.



Trump to Take Virtual Center Stage in Davos

Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Donald Trump. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Donald Trump. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
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Trump to Take Virtual Center Stage in Davos

Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Donald Trump. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Donald Trump. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

Donald Trump on Thursday will star in an eagerly-anticipated online appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, addressing global elites whose annual gabfest has been consumed by the US president's days-old second term.
Trump's name has come up in almost every conversation in the Swiss Alpine village this week: in formal panel discussions, in shuttles ferrying people up and down the mountain, and in exclusive parties along the promenade.
"Trump is a provocateur. He enjoys being a provocateur, and many people at Davos are bored in their life. He's not boring. So, you know, it's kind of exciting," Harvard scholar and WEF regular Graham Allison told AFP.
Davos will finally hear from the man himself during a live video appearance, with CEOs given the chance to lob questions at Trump, himself a businessman who made his fortune in real estate.
He already gave Davos a taste of what is to come since his inauguration on Monday, which coincided with the WEF's first day: tariff threats against Mexico and Canada, the US withdrawal from the Paris climate pact, a threat to take the Panama Canal, just to name a few.
His plans to cut taxes, reduce the size of the federal government and deregulate industries will find a sympathetic ear amongst many businesses.
"Trump has been running America like America Inc. He's been very focused on getting the best advantage for the US in any way that he can," Julie Teigland, a managing partner at EY consulting firm, told AFP.
"He knows that he needs trade partners to do that. He does. And so I expect him to give messages along these lines," she said.
'No winners'
His trade partners had a chance to react in Davos earlier this week.
Without invoking Trump's name, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warned that "there are no winners in a trade war".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to defend free trade but he took a conciliatory tone, saying that he had good earlier discussions with Trump.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said that Brussels was ready to negotiate with Trump, but she also underscored the bloc's diverging policy with him on climate, saying it would stick by the Paris accord.
Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino dismissed Trump's claims to the Panama Canal, which was built by the United States but handed to the Central American country in 1999 under two-decade old treaties.
Mulino said he was "not worried" and that Panama would not be "distracted by this type of statement".
'Celebrate Trump'
The Republican president also has fans in Davos.
One of his biggest cheerleaders on the world stage, Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, will make a speech to the WEF on Thursday, hours before Trump.
"The world should celebrate the arrival of President Trump," Milei said at a Bloomberg event on Wednesday.
"The golden era he proposes for the United States will shine a light for the whole world as it will spell the end of the woke ideology, which is doing so much harm to the planet," Milei said.
One of his backers in the business world, Marc Benioff, the chief executive of US tech firm Salesfoce, was also enthusiastic at the same Bloomberg chat.
"I'm very positive," he said. "I'm just looking forward to seeing what's going to happen. And it's a new day and, it's an exciting moment."