By: Mahmoud Gamal

Dubai – Mubasher: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Monday saw the dual listing of Bahrain-based Ithmaar Holding, marking the first dual listing in 2018.

Ithmaar Holding’s listing on the Dubai bourse is evidence of the hard work carried out by the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) to attract companies, deepen the market, and diversify the UAE bourses’ investor base, analysts told Mubasher.

Ithmaar Holding had announced that it will list not more than 20% of its stocks on the DFM starting Monday, 29 January 2018, after receiving an approval from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) earlier in the month.

The last dual listing carried out on the DFM was Bahrain’s Khaleeji Commercial Bank (KCB) in December.

Investor appetite

Such listings are among the main catalysts that boost foreign and institutional investments in a market, commented MenaCorp financial analyst Issam Kassabieh.

He added that a company like Ithmaar Holding, which is the largest in terms of assets in the Bahraini banking sector, is likely to bolster the DFM’s position globally.

Kassabieh told Mubasher that he expects the rate of listing multinational companies to increase in the UAE in the coming period, particularly in light of the facilities offered by the SCA to these companies.

Listing the Bahraini Ithmaar Holding on the DFM will increase the number of joint-stock companies on the bourse to 18 foreign firms.

Other benefits

Meanwhile, Mindcraft Consultants CEO Fadi El-Ghattis noted that dually-listed companies eye the higher liquidity options that come with being listed one more than bourse as well as the wider investor base, which in turn reflects positively on the trading of its shares.

The DFM is likely to see more listings of dual-listed firms, which is a step towards diversifying the available options for investors, El-Ghattis told Mubasher.

Ithmaar Holding wholly owns Ithmaar Bank and IB Capital.

By 1:40 pm UAE time, Ithmaar’s stock surged 14.98% to AED 0.760 after 70.58 million shares changed hands, generating AED 48.43 million.

Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi