Below-par debut for Amanat shares on Dubai Financial Market

Shares in Amanat, the new vehicle for investment in health care and education in the GCC, fell below par value on their Dubai Financial Market debut.

Against the background of falling indexes on worries about the knock-on effect of lower oil prices for the region’s capital markets, Amanat shed 20 per cent within minutes of an official bell-ringing ceremony at the DFM, touching 80 fils against the opening price of Dh1. Some 12 million shares were traded in the first 30 minutes.

The shares partially recovered in the course of trading, but still closed the session below par value at 88 fils, down 12 per cent on high volume of 81 million shares traded.

It was the first time a DFM debutant has fallen below par value since Drake & Scull, the contractor, opened at a discount in early 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.

“Capital markets are always unpredictable and these are affected by macro-economic factors like the oil price,” said Faisal bin Juma Belhoul, the Amanat chairman behind the Dh1.37 billion listing. “Once we get to actual deals I am confident that will be reflected in the share price. This a buying opportunity at a bargain price.”

Amanat is the first in the recent run of initial public offerings on the DFM to fail to make a premium on opening. Both Marka and Emaar Malls Group jumped to healthy first day premiums when they were listed recently.

A “greenfield” start-up, Amanat was 10 times oversubscribed as big business names in the GCC rushed to back the strategy of investment in the high-growth sectors of health and education.

Mr Belhoul said that he was “anxious to get going” on the group’s expansion plans, and has between four and six deals lined up for the first quarter of 2015. “Several deals are awaiting board approval and will be ready early next year,” he added.

The healthcare and education sectors are growing fast in the GCC region. Some experts believe they are becoming too competitive. “Any market that’s healthy will attract interest from competitors, but there are still a lot of opportunities in these sectors,” said Mr Belhoul.

Listing at par value of Dh1 is the traditional way of floating shares on UAE markets. Rules of the regulator, the Securities and Commodities Authority, have been made more flexible this year to allow the alternative approach of book building, by which the price is assessed by gauging investor appetite.

Other IPOs in the Dubai pipeline include Dubai Parks & Resorts, where retail subscriptions closed yesterday ahead of trading this month, and Daman Investments, which says it wants to list in the first quarter of next year.

Al Habtoor Group has hired banking advisers for a possible $2.5bn IPO, but has not yet formally declared its intention to float.

fkane@thenational.ae

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