Dubai stock market to see new listing as logistics firm Tristar confirms $120m+ IPO

Dubai: Dubai's IPO market is going to see some action, with the logistics company Tristar Transport confirming plans to head for a share offering. Tristar expects to receive between $120 to $160 million of gross primary proceeds from the offering.

The offering, however, will be made available only to qualified investors. Five per cent of the offer will be reserved for Emirates Investment Authority. The shares are expected to be listed in April itself, subject to regulatory approvals.

"The offering is expected to be allocated to certain types of juridical persons and high networth individuals, with a minimum application size of Dh500,000," Tristar said in a statement.

In 2020, the Group had consolidated revenues of $453.4 million and an EBITDA of $103.6 million. Between 2018-20, it notched up a 12.4 per cent CAGR (compund annual growth rate) in operating cashflow and an EBITDA margin of between 20.1 per cent to 22.8.

Headquartered in Dubai, the group has operations in 21 countries across three continents and has over 2,000 road transport assets and 35 maritime vessels. In addition, it operates 69 fuel farms and over 100 remote fuel sites.

The offer size is expected to represent up to 24 per cent of the total issued ordinary shares. The Offering is expected to comprise new shares and those shares to be sold by existing shareholders. Tristar expects to receive between $120 to $160 million of gross primary proceeds from the Offering.

The last IPO on DFM was from Al Mal Capital REIT, which raised Dh350 million in December last. It came after a three-year lull when there were no listings. In October, Dubai also announced a separate stock market for SMEs, called 'Nasdaq Dubai Growth Market'.

Tristar clients include international and national oil companies, and it has also been associated with inter-governmental organisations handling peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in remote geographies.