The chief executive of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) said the initial public offering of Dubai-based district cooling provider Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation, better called Empower, will happen soon but not in the recent quarter.
The managing director of DEWA, Saeed Al Tayer, said on Tuesday, 19 April, “It [Empower’s IPO] will be informed in due time, it won’t be in the recent quarter of the year, likely at the end of this year.”
“We will announce the date at the right time,” he said, without exaggerating. Plans to list the firm were first reported in December last year as part of Dubai’s plan to grow its stock market and lure more capital.
Empower was set up in 2003 and is a joint venture between Dubai’s Tecom Investments Group and DEWA. The company, which has a 79.5% share of Dubai’s district cooling market, delivers services to around 1400 commercial, residential, hospitality, healthcare, retail, education and entertainment buildings in the emirate.
The company increased 4% in its 2021 profit to Dh936 million ($255m) as its revenue boosted by 9% to Dh2.5 billion. Last month, the company also announced a dividend of Dh500m to its shareholders for 2021.
The total bonuses paid to shareholders have totalled Dh3.15bn since its start.
Meanwhile, Dubai, which strives to grow the stock market amid a growing hunger for IPOs in the region, disclosed plans last year to list ten state-owned firms as part of its objectives to double the size of its capital market to Dh3 trillion and lure foreign investment in the country.
The emirate also unveiled its plans to set up a Dh2bn market maker money to facilitate listing more private firms from the logistics, retail, and energy sectors.
Earlier this month, DEWA became the first public company to list on the Dubai Financial Market, raising Dh22.41bn in an oversubscribed share sale.
The IPO of the Dubai utilisation was the biggest in Europe and the Middle East since Saudi Aramco’s debut in 2019. It has a market price of about $39bn and is the largest on the exchange.
Dewa will disperse Dh6.2bn in dividends annually, regardless of the size of the profits, Mr Al Tayer told Al Arabiya on Tuesday.