Drake & Scull eyes listing 'before end of 2008'

IPO DATE: Drake & Scull is aiming to complete its long-awaited listing in Dubai by the end of this month. (Getty Images)

Drake & Scull International has met with the financial market regulator in Dubai as it hopes to push ahead with its long-awaited IPO scheme before the end of 2008, a spokeswoman for the firm said.

The firm’s CFO met with representatives from Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) and Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on Wednesday after the firm, one of the largest MEP contractors in the Gulf, filed the required documents for the IPO process, corporate communications manager Mariana Missakian said.

“We can’t wait until we are listed but there are a lot of regulations with ESCA and DFM, plus they were closed for the holidays for two weeks.

“They have all our documents and we have confirmation of that but we are just waiting for them to get back to us. They know we want to list before the end of the year and we can’t wait as it’s been a two year process already.”

She said she couldn’t say whether the firm would be able to list before the end of 2008.

Drake & Scull’s planned listing on the DFM has been a long-running issue, with the firm’s chief executive Khaldoun Tabari revealing in February it hoped to gain approval for listing on the Dubai stock market by the second quarter of 2008.

It has previously said it hopes to use the funds raised to fund expansion in the Middle East and North Africa.

DFM said two months ago Drake & Scull would be one of the companies that would be listed before the end of the year.

Missakian said although she expected the slowdown in the construction sector to impact on the projects the firm was involved in it had not been affected yet, winning contracts for two “mega projects” in Dubai last week, without giving more details.

“The whole industry has been affected,” she said. “The developer will be the first hit and then it will rumble on to us as an MEP contractor.

“The projects might slow down but we haven’t seen any cancellations, which is good news for us. The slowdown will help us reallocate our resources.”

She said the firm currently had around 35 projects in the UAE, worth a total value of over five billion dirhams ($1.4 billion). It also has a district cooling project in Saudi Arabia, announced earlier this year.

Drake & Scull International is one of the largest MEP contractors operating in the Gulf and has divisions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

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