EFG Hermes completes advice as joint bookrunner on the IPO of Dubai-based Salik

EFG Hermes announced on Saturday that its investment banking arm has successfully completed acting as joint bookrunner on the initial public offering (IPO) of Dubai’s exclusive toll booth operator – Salik – on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

At the IPO, Salik offered 1.9 billion common shares, representing 24.9% of its share capital, at a price of AED 2 per share, for total gross proceeds of over AED 3.7 billion (US$ 1 billion) and a market capitalization of 15 billion AED ($4.1 billion) means ). EFG Hermes acted as joint bookrunner on the transaction within the consortium of banks advising the issuer and the selling shareholder. Salik is trading today under the ticker Salik. After the transaction, Salik will remain a state-owned company with the Government of Dubai owning 75.1% of the company’s share capital.

Commenting on the transaction, Mohamed Fahmi, Co-Head of Investment Banking at EFG Hermes, said: “We are incredibly proud to have been part of this landmark transaction, which has had a great response across all its tranches and from investors around the world. Despite a turbulent global economic environment, the UAE continues to be an attractive investment hub, particularly in the ECM space. It continues to offer investors a dollar-denominated safe haven with very attractive long-term fundamentals, while the DFM continues to offer issuers and investors a healthy place to create value in the public markets, and Salik’s IPO is a testament to the market’s attractiveness for a wide range of investors. The offering gives investors access to a world-class, capital-efficient toll booth operator with a solid track record in one of the world’s fastest growing cities. This IPO offers a very attractive investment proposition at a time when investors are looking for quality issues and marks Dubai’s resurgence as a key financial hub in the GCC and will hopefully maintain the positive momentum for further offerings at the DFM in 2022.”

The offering attracted significant local and international interest, reflecting significant investor confidence in Salik’s business model and Dubai’s long-term prospects. Total gross demand across the tranches of the offering was in excess of AED184.2bn (US$50.2bn) – an oversubscription of c.49x.