Dubai Investments plans to sell a 20% stake in DIP Holding, the owner of the Dubai Investments Park development, through an initial public offering on the Dubai Financial Market, the company said on Monday, October 19, in what The National and Gulf News describe as the first UAE listing this year.
A sale of existing shares, with no new capital
The offering covers about 1.74 billion existing ordinary shares held by Dubai Investments PJSC, the Dubai-listed conglomerate. Because the shares on offer are already in issue, DIP Holding itself will not receive any proceeds, Gulf News noted. If the offer size stays unchanged and every share is allocated, Dubai Investments will keep the remaining 80% of the company.
No price has been set yet. The offer price range is due to be published on October 27, the day subscriptions open. The books close on November 3, the final price is expected on November 4 and trading on the DFM is scheduled to begin on November 11, according to the offer timetable reported by both newspapers. Neither a valuation nor the expected size of the proceeds has been disclosed so far.
How the offer is split
According to the offer documents cited by Gulf News, 5% of the shares, or roughly 86.8 million, are reserved for individual subscribers, with a minimum application of Dh5,000. Institutional and other professional investors in the second tranche are allocated 92%, about 1.6 billion shares, with a minimum ticket of Dh1 million. Employees of the Dubai Investments group can claim 1% and eligible Dubai Investments shareholders 2%.
Emirates NBD is the lead receiving bank. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Islamic, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Wio are also accepting applications, Gulf News reported. Final pricing will be set through a book-building process based on demand from the institutional tranche.
A dividend promise for income investors
DIP Holding intends to pay cash dividends twice a year. The National reported that the company expects annualised payouts of Dh700 million for 2026, Dh725 million for 2027 and Dh750 million for 2028, with a 2029 distribution at least equal to the 2028 level.
The business behind those payouts is largely built on ground rent and services. Established in 1997 near Al Maktoum International Airport and Jebel Ali Port, Dubai Investments Park mixes logistics, industrial, commercial and residential zones. The offering documents list around 1,270 plots, about 1,000 tenants, 5,700 subtenants and more than 150,000 residents, with average ground-lease occupancy of roughly 98% between 2020 and 2025, according to Gulf News.
“Our IPO marks an important milestone in DIP Holding’s journey,” chief executive Omar Al Mesmar said in remarks reported by The National. Chairman Khalid bin Kalban called the listing “a natural next step” for the company. The board has six non-executive members, three of them independent.
A test for a subdued Gulf listings market
The deal follows a long gap in UAE primary issuance. Citing Dealogic data, The National reported that Middle East IPOs raised $7.1 billion from 61 listings in 2025, down from $13 billion in 2024, while UAE companies raised $1.1 billion from three offerings last year. The newspaper linked the slowdown to lower oil prices, geopolitical tensions and weaker post-listing performance, and said the US-Iran war, now in its eighth month, had further disrupted listing plans.
Dubai Investments first said in September 2025 that it was in talks with banks and considering listing up to 25% of the park. The final offer is smaller, at 20%. The Investment Corporation of Dubai is a shareholder in Dubai Investments.
The price range published on October 27 will give investors their first indication of how the company is valued, and early demand should show whether the Dubai market is ready to reopen its IPO pipeline before the end of the year.
