Parkin IPO price range set at Dh2-2.10 per share

The Dubai government’s latest initial public offering sold out as soon as books opened, with investors rushing to snap up shares in the city’s public-parking business.

Dubai-based company Parkin Co. on Tuesday set the price of Dh2 to Dh2.10 per share for the initial public offering (IPO) to raise Dh1.57 billion.This places the company’s market capitalisation at Dh6 billion to Dh6.30 billion at listing on the Dubai Financial Market.

The first day saw strong interest from the Sharjah-compliant company’s shares and is expected to witness massive over subscriptions like the Dubai Taxi IPO, which was oversubscribed 135 times.

Parkin Company, which will be the largest provider of paid parking facilities and services in Dubai, is the first company to launch an IPO in 2024 in the UAE. It currently operates approximately 197,000 paid parking spaces at strategic locations across the emirate.

Daniel Takieddine, chief executive officer for Mena at BDSwiss, said the subscription has seen high levels of interest from investors who have subscribed en masse as soon as the operation started.

“Parkin could thus record significant levels of oversubscription similar to those seen for Dubai Taxi. Investors continue to show a big appetite for companies in the UAE and the region thanks to their strong growth prospects and the solid economic fundamentals in the region. Parkin is also expecting strong growth in its revenues as demand for parking continues to increase in Dubai as its economic activity and population expand,” Takieddine told Khaleej Times.

He added that the strong demand for IPOs in the region and the success of previous ones have created favourable conditions for Parkin.

The Dubai Investment Fund (the “Selling Shareholder”) expects to sell 749,700,000 ordinary shares, representing 24.99 per cent of the total issued share capital of the Company, while reserving the right to amend the size of the Offering at any time prior to the end of the subscription period at their sole discretion, subject to applicable laws and the approval of the SCA.
Assuming all the shares offered are sold, the size of the Offering will be approximately AED 1,499.40 million to AED 1,574.37 million (c. $408.28 million to c. $428.69 million). The final offer price is expected to be announced on March 14, 2024.

Each subscriber in the First Tranche will be guaranteed a minimum allocation of up to 2,000 shares, subject to the total number of shares allocated pursuant to the minimum guaranteed allocation in the First Tranche not exceeding the total number of shares available in the First Tranche, and could therefore be lower than 2,000 shares.

Five per cent of the shares will be reserved for the Emirates Investment Authority and the same percentage for the Pensions and Social Security Fund of Local Military Personnel.