A general view of the downtown area in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 08, 2021.
Satish Kumar | Reuters
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Shares of DEWA, the Dubai Water and Electricity Authority, surged more than 20% as the giant utility company began trading on the public market Tuesday, marking the first listing of its kind in the region.
Shares were trading at 3.02 UAE dirhams (82 cents) in the first minutes of trading versus the IPO price of 2.48 dirhams per share.
DEWA in March announced its plan to sell a 6.5% stake by offering 3.25 billion shares in its public offering.
Ahead of the listing, the company said that more than 65,000 local, regional and international investors took part in the IPO, raising about $6.1 billion.
The utility’s float is the largest listing ever in the UAE and the largest listing in the Middle East since Saudi state oil giant Aramco went public on the kingdom’s Tadawul exchange in 2019.
DEWA is the exclusive provider of water, electricity and district cooling to Dubai’s 3.5 million local and expatriate residents.