Allen & Overy has advised the syndicate of underwriters (J.P Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, HSBC Bank Middle East, EFG Hermes, Emirates NBD and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi) on the initial public offering of Emaar Malls Group (EMG) and its listing on the Dubai Financial Market. This was the second largest IPO ever in the UAE and the Gulf’s largest since 2008.

EMG priced its IPO at the top end of the AED2.50 – AED2.90 price range, and raised AED5.8 billion (USD1.6bn). With a market cap at USD10.3bn, EMG became one of the largest stocks on the Dubai Financial Market when it began trading on 2 October 2014.

Commenting on the transaction, A&O corporate partner Khalid Garousha said: “Occasionally there are transactions that come along that are transformational for the market and this is one of those deals. The structure that was implemented for the IPO had never been attempted before and we hope will create a blueprint for best practice UAE IPO execution in the future. The overwhelming international and regional demand for the stock is testament not only to investors’ confidence in the EMG business but the strong global appetite to invest in the region’s leading companies.”

The A&O team was led by corporate partner Khalid Garousha with support from corporate senior associate Richard Knott, corporate associates Salma Zibdeh and Mohamed El Sherkawi and real estate counsel Ian Bevan. London ICM partner Adam Wells and ICM senior associate Carolyn Jew advised on the US aspects and London corporate partner James Roe advised on the underwriting arrangements and underwriting syndicate arrangements.