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19 March 2024

Marka to list on DFM in September's 2nd week

Jamal Al Hai, Chairman of Marka (Supplied)

Published
By Staff/Reuters

Marka, a public joint stock company with a capital of Dh500 million, announced that it will list its shares on the Dubai Financial Market in the second week of September after having obtained the preliminary approval from the Securities and Commodities Authority.

The company had raised Dh275 million through an initial public offering in April 2014 with IPO being oversubscribed by 36 times. The first IPO on the main Dubai bourse in five years saw investors subscribing Dh10 billion to the Marka offering. Each share was priced Dh1.

The IPO raised 55 per cent of the company's capital and the rest was contributed by 151 founders, including some of the UAE's most prominent businessmen. Bankers have said Marka aims to list its shares on the DFM around the first week of June.

The company Marka is a "cash shell" which does not have any current operations; it says it will spend proceeds of the IPO on opening over 100 fashion retail outlets, restaurants and cafes in the UAE and across the Gulf Arab region in the next five years.

Jamal Al Hai, Chairman of Marka, said: “Our focus in the company’s board is to attract elite talents that will fill senior management positions to ensure the effective operation of the company before the incorporation. We are also focused on implementing our ambitious plans to cement Marka’s position at the forefront of the retail and F&B sectors in the UAE and across the region.

“We are on track in starting the company’s operations after completing various licensing procedures and obtaining final approvals from the Ministry of Economy, the Securities and Commodities Authority and Department of Economic Development, and establishing Marka as a public joint stock company.”

He said: “The board has put in place strategies and investment plans and a strategic plan in identifying the number and location of our first retail stores, restaurants and cafes.”

Marka will be active in the retail and food and beverages sectors in the UAE, in particular, and the GCC, in general, where it plans to introduce new concepts within those two growing sectors on both local and regional levels, which are benefiting from the record growth in tourist influx and the increasing demand from both UAE nationals and residents.