|By TAP Staff| Emaar Malls Group, the shopping mall operator based in Dubai, said Monday that it had raised $1.6 billion in its initial public offering.
Emaar Malls, which owns the Dubai Mall, one of the largest shopping centers in the world, with 3.7 million square feet in leasable space and 75 million visitors last year, is being spun off from Emaar Properties, the property giant that is also based in Dubai.
The mall operator priced its offering at 2.90 dirhams, or about 79 cents, a share. The offering, which was oversubscribed, valued the company around $10.3 billion.
“We welcome all new shareholders to E.M. as we enter a new phase in the development of the company,” Mohamed Alabbar, the Emaar Malls chairman, said in a news release.
Emaar Malls sold about two billion shares in the offering, or about 15.4 percent of its share capital. Trading of its shares is expected to begin on Thursday in Dubai.
Emaar Malls operates 5.9 million square feet of leasable mall space in Dubai. It posted revenue of 2.39 billion dirhams in 2013.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley acted as underwriters on the offering. Rothschild acted as financial adviser on the offering.
