Dubai Tees Up Next IPO With Plan to List Road-Toll System

(Bloomberg) -- Dubai plans to list its road toll-collection system on the local stock exchange, the latest step in its attempt to increase liquidity on a bourse that’s lagged regional rivals over the past year.

The so-called Salik toll system is part of the Roads and Transport Authority and a key source of revenue for the emirate. “Investing in it carries many opportunities,” Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed, Dubai’s deputy ruler and head of its financial market, said on Twitter Saturday.

Salik, Arabic for open, is an automated system introduced in 2007. Each time a vehicle passes through one of the city’s eight toll points, 4 dirhams ($1.09) is charged to a prepaid account -- eliminating the need for cash or toll booths. 

“It’s a cash machine,” Mohammed Ali Yasin, the chief strategy officer at Al Dhabi Capital Ltd., said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Sunday. “Debt is going to be extremely low there. It could be a very good dividend-yielding stock to invest in Dubai.” 

Dubai’s benchmark index rose as much as 0.6% on Sunday, taking gains since the start of the month to 10%. Exchange operator Dubai Financial Market PJSC jumped 10%. The stock has more than doubled in two weeks amid a series of moves to increase liquidity on the bourse.

“2022 could be a very successful year for the DFM,” Yasin said.

Salik’s listing is part of Dubai’s efforts to catch up with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi -- the Middle East’s busiest IPO venues over the past year. It comes after the city said on Nov. 2 that it would list the utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, another important source of government revenue, in what’s likely to be Dubai’s biggest share sale to date. 

In all, Dubai plans to list as many as 10 state firms over the coming months.

Once the United Arab Emirates’ leading exchange by traded volume, Dubai’s bourse is now second to Abu Dhabi, which has had three IPOs this year. In contrast, Dubai has seen one listing since 2017, and a string of delistings that have dented investor confidence.

(Updates with analyst comment in 4th and 6th paragraphs)

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