Khaleej Times - Dubai's Salik IPO begins today: Here is why you should subscribe

Salik Company will launch its initial public offering (IPO) tomorrow (September 13). It is expected to witness strong demand from both retail and institutional investors and is likely to be oversubscribed.

Analysts say that the Dubai road toll operator’s plan to allocate all of its profits for shareholder payout will stand it in good stead and attract heavy subscriptions from local and foreign investors.

Dubai government earlier announced that it plans to sell shares in 10 public sector companies to boost the market capitalisation of the local stock market to Dh3 trillion.

Salik will be the third company after the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) and Tecom Group to list shares on the Dubai Financial Market. Both the previous IPOs saw strong demand and oversubscription. And Salik IPO is likely to attract a good response, too, if not better.

First in GCC?

Arun Leslie John, chief market analyst, Century Financial, expects Salik pricing is likely at Dh2.45 per share, giving it an approximate valuation of $5 billion (Dh18.35 billion).

He said Salik is a pioneer with regard to its dividend policy, perhaps in the entire GCC region. “It is the first company to offer 100 per cent of its dividends as payout and many other mature companies in the region might follow its lead,” he said.

Dubai’s road toll operator will sell 1.5 billion shares or 20 per cent of the stake. Comprising individual subscribers, professional investors and eligible employees, the subscriptions will open on September 13 and end on September 20 for retail investors and till September 21 for qualified investors. The company is likely to list on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) around September 29.

Emirates NBD bank will be the lead receiving bank for the IPO. Other banks are Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Ajman Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mashreq Bank, MBank and Sharjah Islamic Bank.

The road toll operator can also roll out the “dynamic pricing” model in the future.

Asset-light business model

“The IPO is attractive as the shares will presumably have a relatively high dividend yield, depending on the final pricing issue. Additionally, given that it has an asset-light business model, the dividend should remain stable for multiple years. Moreover, its decision to boost revenue through dynamic pricing methods could also bump up its payout to shareholders. This means the public issue is likely to be well received,” said John.

Century Financial's chief market analyst said Dewa and Tecom are asset-heavy companies while Salik is not. “In addition, Dewa is susceptible to swings in global fuel price while Tecom is subject to the real estate market vagaries. Salik, on the other hand, is a toll operator, so its business is more durable,” he said, adding that Salik is better timed as global market sentiments are better this time.

“Furthermore, stock markets have recovered from their lows of this year, so the Salik listing day might see a jump from the issue price,” he added.