IPO fully covered within first week Amanat Holdings

United Arab Emirates-based Amanat Holdings, a healthcare and education start-up, said its 1.375 billion dirham ($374 million) initial public offer of shares had been fully covered within a week since subscriptions opened.

Amanat is the latest of several UAE companies to go public this year, taking advantage of a strengthening economy and improving investor sentiment after a five-year absence of major IPOS in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

On Oct. 20 it began offering for sale 55 percent of the company at 1 dirham a share to retail and institutional investors. The offer period is due to end on Nov. 4.

"Investors have chosen to participate early, demonstrating their confidence in Amanat's ability to capitalise on the investment opportunities which exist in the region's education and healthcare sectors," Amanat chairman Faisal Bin Juma Belhoul said in a statement on Wednesday.

Amanat intends to use 70 percent of the funds from the IPO to invest in healthcare and education, expecting to buy stakes in three to six companies over the next 12-24 months, Belhoul said previously.

The company's IPO follows the $1.58 billion flotation this month of Emaar Malls Group, which drew orders worth more than $47 billion.    (Reporting by Tom Arnold and Nadia Saleem; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

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