Mubasher: A recent report by Ubhar Capital showed that with oil prices recouping, several companies in the GCC region are planning to go public.

The research note issued on Tuesday estimates that liquidity will improve in the coming period, which might channel into equity markets.

More than 30 companies, excluding REITs, are reportedly expected to go public in 2018, majority of them on local markets and few big names are yet undecided where to list.

Saudi Arabia and UAE are expected to be the biggest contributors, with a number of announced and rumored IPOs in the pipeline.

It is worth noting that talks regarding initial public offerings (IPO) are dominated by that of Saudi Aramco, which is expected to be the biggest in the entire world.

“Other big names, which are expected to hit the market, are: Abu Dhabi Ports, Emirates Global, Senaat, Gems Education, Property Management Unit of Dar Al Arkan, ACWA Power Saudi, Kuwait Stock Exchange and some power companies in Oman,” the report added.

“We believe early 2018 would be an opportune time for the companies to go public as oil prices would continue to remain higher supported by output cuts. Later on, we expect shale producers to bounce back with higher production and drag the oil prices down,” the report concluded.