Dubai: Dubai Parks and Resorts, a unit of Dubai government owned Meraas Holdings, opened its Dh2.5 billion Initial Public Offering for investors on Monday, providing an opportunity for investors to tap fast expanding leisure sector in the country.

Dubai Parks and Resorts plans to offer 2.5 billion shares or 40 per cent of the issued share capital at Dh1 each, bringing the total market capitalisation to Dh6.3 billion. The IPO subscription period will run through November 30.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index has gained nearly 40 per cent so far in the year, prompting companies like Marka, Emaar Malls Group to sell shares in the primary market taking advantage of the robust investor appetite.

Amanat’s IPO, which was oversubscribed 10 times, plans to list on the DFM in late November. Companies like Daman Investments among others have also made plans to list on the Dubai Financial Market.

Tapping leisure sector:

“I would expect a positive response for the IPO. It’s a way to tap the hospitality and leisure sector, which is an important part of the UAE’s economy,” Saleem Khokhar, head of equities at National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s asset management group told Gulf News.

The Middle East is forecast to be the fastest growing region for inbound tourism in the world, with visitor numbers nearly trebling to 149 million by 2030.

“Dubai is ideally located to benefit from the growing level of tourism and is already the fifth most visited city in the world with 11.95 million visitors as of July 2014,” said Raed Al Nuaimi, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Parks and Resorts.

Dubai Parks and Resorts will be a multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination inspired by Hollywood and Bollywood, and will offer 73 attractions in three separate theme parks including the Bluewaters project, along with a four star resort hotel.

“We see significant opportunity in creating a year-round global leisure and entertainment destination catering to tourists from the Middle East, Asia and globally,” said Al Nuaimi.

The company plans to get the project completed before the end of the third quarter of 2016 and the total estimated number of visits in the first full year of operation in 2017 is about 6.7 million, with significant growth expected over the following four-year period.