The port operator has raised $4.9bn through its offer of 23 per cent of its shares, priced at $1.30 each.
“The size of the IPO DP World was hoping for was $3bn,” says a local banker. “At the bottom of the initial price range it was issuing 3 billion shares for a dollar a share. It ended up with almost $5bn, a third higher than it expected.”
A quarter of the shares will be allocated to shareholders in the Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation's convertible Islamic bond. Most of the remaining shares will be allocated to international institutions.
Local retail investors will receive a minimum of 3,500 shares each, almost three times more than expected. Individual investors were originally promised a minimum allotment of shares worth $2,000, equivalent to 1,538 shares.
The size of the offering was increased from 20 per cent of the company's shares to 23 per cent on 19 November in response to strong investor demand.