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September 29, 2005
IPO madness
Earlier comments here have drawn attention to the surplus of liquidity in the region, and the resulting stock market bubble. So what happens when there's an IPO for a UAE company and no way to apply for shares in Abu Dhabi?
[T]he Dana Gas IPO brought chaos to UAE banks with would-be subscribers falling over themselves to pick up application forms. All flights from Saudi Arabia to the UAE have been booked solid for days and 33,000 people crossed the border in the past four days, according to local officials.
Several banks had to close their doors to control the crowds and some banks reported scuffles as the crowds struggled to get to the counters. At least one incident was reported in which a security guard was roughed up.
New laws regulating IPOs will soon be ready in the UAE. But I believe a stock market crash is inevitable regardless.
Posted by dubaiwalla at September 29, 2005 02:01 PM
Filed Under: Business, Private
, Economic Policy
, Gulf
, Op-Ed
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Comments
Comrades
We have the world a world contender for bubble madness. Right up there with the Red Shares of China.
Posted by: lounsbury at September 30, 2005 05:47 AM
I wonder if anyone's coined the term 'bubblionaire' to refer to all the people who are rich on paper today but won't remain so tomorrow?
Posted by: Dubaiwalla at September 30, 2005 01:07 PM
I now have an uncontrollable urge to launch an IPO in the UAE. Media City must have a bunch of companies that could use a few hundred million dirhams. I anticipate that my soon-to-be announced eSalat IPO will be a huge hit.
Posted by: Anonymous at September 30, 2005 01:09 PM
Is there a metric of current aggregate or current major-index P/E or yield?
Posted by: matthew hogan at September 30, 2005 01:15 PM
