Dubai Taxi on Monday announced its plan to launch an initial public offering (IPO) to sell 624.75 million shares and list on the Dubai Financial Market.
The company priced each share at a nominal value of Dh0.04, representing 24.99 per cent of Dubai Taxi Company’s total issued share capital.
The subscription period will open on November 21, and end on November 28 for UAE retail investors and November 29 for professional investors. The shares are expected to start trading on the Dubai bourse in December 2023.
The share capital of the company, as at the date of the listing, has been set at Dh100 million divided into 2,500,000,000 shares paid-in-full, with the nominal value of each share being Dh0.04. The company intends to pay dividends twice each year in April and October, starting from fiscal year 2024. In addition, it expects to distribute a first dividend of at least Dh71 million in respect of the financial performance of the fourth quarter of 2023 which would be paid in April 2024.
On Sunday, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, approved Law No. (21) of 2023 pertaining to ‘Dubai Taxi Company’ on Sunday. The law mandated the revision of the term ‘Dubai Taxi Corporation’ wherever it is referenced in the existing laws of the emirate, to be substituted with ‘Dubai Taxi Company (PJSC)’.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, also approved the Council’s Resolution No. (93) of 2023 on ‘Dubai Taxi Company’s’ Articles of Association including the bylaws and regulations.
Sheikh Hamdan also approved the Executive Council Resolution No. (92) of 2023, appointing Abdul Mohsin Ibrahim Younis as chairman, and Ahmed Ali Al Kaabi serves as vice chairman. Other board members include Shehab Hamad Abu Shehab, Youssef Ahmed bin Ghalaita, Dr. Hanan Sulaiman Al Suwaidi, Abdulla Mohammed bin Damithan, and Issa Abdullah bin Natouf.
Dubai Taxi IPO is part of a series of public offerings launched by the Dubai government entities after the pandemic. The government had announced to list 10 entities on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) to increase liquidity in the equity market and boost the bourse’s market capitalisation to Dh3 trillion
Till now, utility services provider Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), tollgate operator Salik, Tecom Group and district cooling company Empower have gone public and listed their shares on the local bourse. All the government-backed entities that went public witnessed an overwhelming demand from both retail and institutional investors, oversubscribed multiple times.
“Benefitting from Dubai’s exceptional infrastructure and an ambition to double the size of its economy by 2033, supported by the Dubai Urban Master Plan 2040 which maps out a comprehensive plan for sustainable urban development in the emirate, Dubai Taxi Company remains key to the growth, mobility and sustainability vision of Dubai, playing an integral role in moving and connecting the millions who call Dubai home and the rapidly increasing number of tourists who visit the UAE every year,” said Abdul Mohsen.
Dubai Taxi said five per cent of the offering will be reserved for the Emirates Investment Authority and a similar percentage for the Pensions and Social Security Fund of Local Military Personnel.
The company has a 7,146 total fleet size as of the first half of 2023, up from 6,487 in the same period last year. it recorded 21.8 million number of trips in the January-June 2023 period, up from 20.7 million in the same period last year. Its revenues increased from Dh864.1 million in H1 2022 to Dh956.56 million in the first half of this year. Its net income jumped from Dh108.99 million to Dh186.33 million during the comparative period.
It commands around 44 per cent market share in the emirate in terms of taxi fleet as of June 2023 and is also active in other mobility business lines, specifically buses, limousines, and delivery bikes.
The joint book runners are EFG-Hermes UAE and First Abu Dhabi Bank while the lead receiving bank is Emirates NBD.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Ajman Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Mashreq Bank.
