Damac plans Kuwait IPO to enter Iraq market

Dubai-based real estate developer Damac Properties said it plans to sell shares in its Kuwaiti unit in an initial public offering as early as April, using Kuwait as a base to expand into the Iraq real estate market.

Privately owned Damac will sell at least 20 per cent of Damac Kuwaiti Holding, a company it set up in 2004, Adil Taqi, general manager of Damac Invest, told Reuters on Thursday. Damac Invest is the investment arm of Damac Holding.

Damac Kuwaiti Holding won local regulatory approval for the sale earlier this month.

Kuwait is "an important capital market and for investment in Iraq," Taqi said. "We are looking into the property market and public investment in Iraq."

Ahead of the public sale, Damac is offering 36 million shares at 248 fils each in a private sale to investors to raise 8.93 million dinars ($32.64 million; Dh119.14 million), it said in a statement earlier on Thursday. That is equivalent to 20 per cent of its share capital.

"The Kuwaiti market is one of the important markets for us," Damac Chairman Hussain Sajwani told Reuters. (Reuters)