Abu Dhabi-based Insurance House said it has successfully completed its IPO, the first in the UAE in over two and a half years, netting an overall share capital of Dh120 million ($32.6 million).

'We have raised as much as we offered to the public,' a company spokesman said about the IPO which closed on March 9 after offering 55 per cent of its capital to UAE nationals.

Commenting on the success, Mohammed Abdulla Alqubaisi, chairman of Insurance House founders committee said the issue had broken the deadlock in the struggling UAE IPO market since more than two and a half years, and achieved outstanding success.

'And that too under very difficult circumstances caused by the political situation and the region's economic recession, in addition to the sharp downturn in the stock market during the subscription period,' he remarked.

He said the IPO was limited to UAE nationals only. 'However the company intends to open up its shareholding to foreign ‎ownership as soon as the shares are listed in Abu Dhabi market,' he added.

Insurance House is currently completing the allocation procedures that will be finalized on March 23. It also plans to hold its EGM within ten days as a prelude to finalizing the establishment of the company and listing on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

The IPO coverage, he said, reflected the confidence of a significant segment of investors in the project.

The issue has uncovered new leaders in the stock markets, where national institutions have proven their ability to lead such projects without any participation of foreign institutions, the official said.

This has been well demonstrated by FH Capital, the ‎investment banking subsidiary of Finance House, through its merits and ability to successfully lead the IPO in the most difficult circumstances.

In addition the IPO manager, Mashreq Bank, demonstrated outstanding leading role in the IPOs market, reemphasizing its ability to attract investors, Alqubaisi said.

'We have been working for several months to build the infrastructure of the company, and attracted a major group to manage the company, also by the end of April, we will finish all the works required for the establishment of the company,' he noted.

In addition to human resources, company's offices have been rented and are being prepared, whereas the company's branch network will be spread over Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

'We have finalized the selection of an IT company, and implementation of a selected information system ‎is underway with collaboration of a team from Insurance House for the application of that system”, Alqubaisi added.

According to him, the Insurance House’s management is currently focused on the strategies and marketing plans in preparation to attract the largest volume of business from the first day of operations.

'All this is being handled through close co-operation between the management team of Insurance House and Finance House which holds up to 36 per cent of the new company,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service