As the year comes to an end, issuers across the Middle East are making the most of the last available window to print IPOs and there is now a crowded 2024 pipeline in the making.

This year has been comparatively slower than the buoyant 2022, but, even the more limited deal flow would make other European exchanges celebrate.

The latest to come to market was UAE’s Dubai Taxi with a USD 314.7m equivalent IPO. The transaction marked a return to state privatisations in the GCC and was covered at a staggering 130x – a record for Dubai.

According to Dealogic data, IPO deal volumes in 4Q23 reached USD 2.6bn, down from USD 7.3bn in 4Q22 but well above 2Q and 3Q with issuance of under USD 2bn each quarter.

By contrast, follow-ons in 4Q23 were muted as secondary sales of listed companies in the Middle East remain few and far between compared to the large volumes in the IPO market in the last two years.

On November 10, Investcorp Capital Plc, an investment vehicle backed by the Middle East’s largest alternative asset manager, completed a USD 451m initial public offering.

Hazem Ben-Gacem, Investcorp co-CEO, said the region is one of the very few markets that have been opened to IPOs and added that Investcorp is planning to list two portfolio companies, one in Saudi Arabia and one in the UAE.

Two sources agreed there are plenty of other IPOs ready to hit the market, with one expecting a crowded 1Q24, closely resembling the start of 2022.

PureHealth, a UAE-based integrated healthcare group, and bitcoin mining business Phoenix Group PLC are both hoping to list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), according to Dealogic’s IPO pipeline.

Some IPO candidates are still appointing banks, including Spinneys Dubai LLC, a supermarket and grocery chain in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, alongside SEE Holding, a Dubai-based residential projects builder which is nearing the appointment of banks including Barclays and Citigroup.

Meanwhile, Advanced Inhalation Rituals, the owner of shisha brand Al Fakher, has selected banks to run a new listing, including Citi and Morgan Stanley.

Among companies on advisers’ list is Dubizzle Group, which operates classifieds websites popular with expatriates in the UAE and is working with banks on its potential IPO. The company has not decided on its listing venue although it is likely to stay local.

In the medium term, FIVE Holdings Ltd, which operates luxury hotels in Dubai and Switzerland, is also considering an IPO on the local bourse in about two years.

However, with geopolitics difficult, there is no guarantee of success.

Sources all pointed to the war between Israel and Hamas, as well as its potential to spread discord across the region, as a serious impediment to a healthy market.

But, despite worsening geopolitics, 4Q has proved there is still a live window for new Middle Eastern IPOs.