Dubai’s DEWA portion rises

In the Gulf region’s largest first public offering since Saudi oil giant Aramco in 2019, shares of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority rose nearly 16 percent on Tuesday.

As the Dubai stock exchange falls 0.5 percent, DEWA shares surge 19 percent in the first minutes of trading before closing up 15.72 percent at 2.87 dirhams ($0.78).

Last week, the Dubai-based utility said that it had raised 22.3 billion dirhams ($6.1 billion) in the Gulf’s largest initial public offering (IPO) since Aramco’s world-record launch.

Nine billion shares were listed, representing an 18 percent interest, at an initial price of 2.48 dirhams ($0.68).

The sale, in which over 65,000 institutional and individual investors took part, valued the company at over $1 billion.