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Dubai Investments May List M’Sharie on Nasdaq Dubai

2010-06-09

(Bloomberg) -- Dubai Investments PJSC is considering listing a 30 percent stake in unit M’Sharie LLC on Nasdaq Dubai and trading the shares on the Dubai Financial Market PJSC to circumvent a regulatory rule, the chief executive officer said. Dubai Investments, which owns stakes in more than 40 companies, is seeking to sell shares in private equity unit M’Sharie in an initial public offering by the end of June 2011, Khalid Bin Kalban said. The company wants to trade the shares on the DFM because of higher liquidity, he said. DFM requires companies to sell a minimum 55 percent stake and Nasdaq Dubai has a 25 percent minimum listing rule. This is “the only option we have because of the regulations’ shortcomings,” Bin Kalban, 52, said in an interview in Dubai. “We have assurances after meetings with DFM and Nasdaq Dubai that it’s possible.” Dubai Financial Market, the only Gulf Arab stock market to sell shares to the public, in December offered $121 million to buy Nasdaq Dubai as it aims to boost liquidity. Nasdaq Dubai, the Gulf’s first international exchange that allows listings in U.A.E. dirhams and dollars, has been struggling to attract trading volumes since its inception in September 2005. “I can’t see how any company can sell shares on one exchange and trade on another without fulfilling the usual requirements,” said Ayman Heikal, a legal consultant at the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority, the regulator known as SCA. “The regulator of each exchange will need to ensure the laws are followed.”