26/01/2016 06:41 AST

The UAE’s equity markets are expected to see some IPO (Initial Public Offering) activity this year after a relatively quiet 2015 that was marred by negative sentiment and weak liquidity.

According to Obaid Al Zaabi, acting chief executive officer of Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (Esca), the companies expected to float their shares are in the real estate, investment, and retail sectors. He declined to elaborate, however, on when the listings will take place or which companies are looking to list.

“There are intentions [by companies to list] but because of the market situation, they’ve been frozen. We’ve been receiving requests for IPOs since the first half of last year till now, and we’re studying them but the decision comes down to the companies not the Authority,” Al Zaabi said.

He was speaking to reporters on Monday on the sidelines of the 10th GCC Regulators Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Al Zaabi also discussed market performance saying, “The Authority is currently coordinating with the UAE markets to allow them to absorb volatility and external factors like geopolitics, oil prices, quantitative easing in Europe and the US, and performance of Chinese markets. So, we want to enable them to be SRO (Self-Regulatory Organisations) by allowing them to take direct decisions about investments in capital markets.”

The Authority is also now in the process of updating its laws on corporate governance based on the latest company law that came out last year, the acting CEO said.


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Ticker Price Volume
SABIC 114.77 5,915,941

ADX 4,608.97 23.76 (0.52%)

Market
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ADIB 3.91 0.02 (0.51%)
FAB 11.95 0.20 (1.70%)
ADCB 6.60 0.05 (0.76%)
CBI 0.87 0.11 (14.47%)
FGB 0.00 0.00 (0.00%)

DFM 3,091.15 -9.24 (-0.30%)

Market
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Index vs...
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EMIRATESNBD 10.65 0.05 (0.47%)
EIB 9.50 0.00 (0.00%)
EMAAR 5.61 -0.03 (-0.54%)
EMAARMALLS 2.16 0.00 (0.00%)
DIB 5.30 0.00 (0.00%)
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