According to Yahoo News, Dubai Taxi Co. experienced a 19% increase in its debut after a $315 million initial public offering (IPO), marking the city's first privatization in over a year. Shares in Dubai Taxi opened at 2.2 dirhams on Thursday, with the stock offered at 1.85 dirhams, which was at the top of a marketed range. The share sale was significantly oversubscribed, attracting orders worth over $41 billion, as investors' appetite for listings in the Persian Gulf remains strong.
The region has been one of the few active IPO spots globally, with deal activity subdued in other markets due to aggressive interest rate hikes and market volatility. High oil prices, robust local investor demand, and government initiatives to list state-owned companies have instead fueled a surge of IPOs in the Gulf, partly driven by large pools of capital seeking investment opportunities.
Dubai Taxi is part of a busy year-end for Middle Eastern IPOs, with a crypto-related firm jumping 35% on its Abu Dhabi debut on Tuesday, while health-care platform PureHealth Holding is seeking to raise $1 billion in a listing in the United Arab Emirates' capital. Dubai is the Gulf's best-performing market this year, with the benchmark index up almost 20% so far, partly driven by a jump in property-related shares.
