Empower IPO retail offering tripled due to strong demand

The qualified investor tranche offering has been reduced

Empower expects to start trading on the Dubai Financial Market on November 15. Photo: Bloomberg

The number of shares on offer for retail investors in the initial public offering of Dubai's Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the emirate's district cooling provider, has been tripled due to strong demand.

The retail tranche was increased to 300 million ordinary shares from 100m ordinary shares due to "significant demand and oversubscription" from retail investors, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The qualified investors tranche has been reduced to 1.7 billion ordinary shares from 1.9bn ordinary shares.

The share offer price remains between Dh1.31 and Dh1.33 per share and the offering size remains unchanged at 2bn shares, equivalent to 20 per cent of the company's share capital.

The size of the IPO has been increased from an initial 10 per cent announced last month, that was subsequently revised up to 15 per cent at the start of November.

The subscription period remains unchanged. The offer period for UAE retail investors closed on November 7, while the closing date for qualified investors is November 8.

Empower, the world’s largest district cooling services provider, is expected to list on the Dubai Financial Market on November 15.

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and Emirates Power Investment (EPI) will retain 56 per cent and 24 per cent of Empower’s existing share capital respectively following the listing.

The UAE Strategic Investment Fund, Shamal Holding and the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund are cornerstone investors in the IPO, with a total commitment of up to Dh335m.

The IPO of Empower, which may raise as much as Dh2.66bn ($724m) is part of Dubai's plans to boost the size of its capital markets.

Dubai's plans to list 10 state-owned companies and increase the size of its financial market to about Dh3 trillion. The emirate also plans to set up a Dh2bn market maker fund to encourage the listing of more private companies from sectors such as energy, logistics and retail.

Empower was established by royal decree as a joint venture in 2003 to provide energy through its various plants to the emirate's property sector.

The company will have 81 district cooling plants by the end of 2022 and a network that is more than 350 kilometres long, its website said.