Jafza’s more than 7,500 companies enjoy many advantages: Zero tax incentive on income and profits, great physical infrastructure and superb location being just three of them. As these companies start to grow they need to think about raising capital to fund their growth. This is where Jafza sets itself apart with its far-sighted legal framework to raise capital through a stock exchange, something that was developed in collaboration with NASDAQ Dubai.
Under Jafza’s regulations, companies can list their entities on an exchange by converting to/setting up a Public Listed Company (PLC) structure. Following this straightforward process, the PLC can then apply to carry out an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Nasdaq Dubai on which DP World DP World, UAE Region listed its shares in 2007 raising USD4.96 billion.
As the Middle East’s international financial exchange, Nasdaq Dubai offers easy access to investors in the region and around the world, and is an excellent IPO venue for Jafza companies in all industry sectors, whether they are regionally owned businesses or regional arms of international companies. Companies do not have to be large. Their market capitalisation can be as little as 10 million US dollars in order for them to raise capital from the public market.
We are committed to providing free zone companies with a legal environment that enables them to grow and prosper, including creating access to new capital-raising opportunities. We will further strengthen our strategic collaboration with Nasdaq Dubai for the benefit of a wide range of companies active in a variety of industry sectors
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem,
Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation and Chairman of Jafza
“Jafza is home to regional and international businesses that are of interest to our investor’s community. We have witnessed a growing interest in capital raising and IPOs from Jafza based companies and are confident that our strategic collaboration with Jafza will see a number of success stories.” says Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai.
Companies not looking to raise capital can still benefit from the global platform through a technical listing. Not only does this provide credibility and global recognition, it gives the current shareholders an efficient and transparent route to sell their shares in the secondary market. Shareholders of private companies struggle to find buyers for their shares; a technical listing resolves this issue. It is also a good option to consider as part of the succession planning for family businesses.
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Companies can also use public debt markets to raise capital. Nasdaq Dubai hosts more than 90 conventional bonds and Sukuk (Islamic Bonds) from UAE-based companies and foreign governments. For Sukuk, the exchange is the largest venue in the world for listings, currently totaling about AED 217 billion ($59.3 billion).