Dubai's Amanat Holdings plans to list its education platform

Dubai’s Amanat Holdings plans to proceed with an initial public offering of its education platform amid a surge in listings across the Gulf stock markets and strong investor demand.

The company will engage with relevant financial, legal and commercial advisers on the IPO, it said on Thursday in a filing to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.

Amanat, however, did not say where it plans to list the platform and how many shares it plans to sell to investors as part of the transaction. The IPO plans were first revealed in May.

Amanat’s education platform includes Middlesex University Dubai, the first overseas campus of London's Middlesex University, Human Development Company, a provider of special education and care services in Saudi Arabia, and Nema Holding, which offers higher education in Abu Dhabi.

The company also operates a healthcare platform with a medical and rehabilitation centre in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and a hospital in Bahrain.

The new announcement comes as local companies continue to list their shares on the stock exchanges following a public mandate to boost the capital markets.

In November 2021, Dubai said it would list 10 state-owned companies and establish a Dh2 billion market maker fund to encourage listings from private companies in sectors such as energy, logistics and retail.

The government aims to expand the size of the emirate's financial market to Dh3 trillion.

Abu Dhabi has also seen a spate of IPOs from public and private sector entities.

Companies including Parkin, Salik, Tecom, Empower, Dubai Taxi Company, Al Ansari Financial Services, Pure Health, Adnoc Gas and Investcorp Capital have listed their shares on the UAE bourses in the past two years.

Last month, Alef Education Holding, a UAE-based education technology company, listed its shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange after raising Dh1.89 billion ($514 million) through an IPO.

The public offering to retail and institutional investors was 39 times subscribed by investors receiving $20 billion in orders, according to the company.

Spinneys, the operator of premium supermarkets in the UAE and Oman, also went public with the listing of shares on the DFM. It raised Dh1.37 billion through the IPO.

Companies in Dubai have raised Dh34.5 billion through selling shares in the past three years, with aggregate investor demand for those listings reaching more than Dh1 trillion, the Dubai Securities and Exchange Higher Committee said in March.

The UAE, the Arab world's second-largest economy, led the GCC in terms of funds raised last year through IPOs.

Issuers secured $6.07 billion from eight listings on UAE exchanges, accounting for about 56.3 per cent of total proceeds, according to data from Kamco.