Al Shafar IPO on hold

|By TAP Staff| Al Shafar General Contracting has put on hold its plan to sell shares in an initial public offering in Dubai amid weak market conditions, Bloomberg reported quoting two people with knowledge of the matter.

The Dubai-based construction company, which is helping build an island designed to feature the world’s tallest Ferris wheel, explored a share sale before deciding the timing isn’t conducive to a successful offering, the people said. They asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

The company had hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Emirates NBD and Egyptian Financial Group-Hermes Holding Co.  to arrange the IPO. “As a matter of policy, ASGC does not comment on its capital-raising plans,” the company said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. Goldman Sachs and Emirates NBD also declined to comment.

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Dubai’s benchmark stock index has dropped 26 percent in the past 12 months, reflecting consistently deteriorating market conditions.

 

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