Dubai government considering Emirates IPO, says airline president

DUBAI: The Dubai government is considering an initial public offering (IPO) of Emirates airline, the flagship carrier’s president Tim Clark said on Monday, as authorities work to boost activity on the local stock market.

The emirate’s government is planning to list 10 state-backed companies on its stock exchange and set up a two billion dirham (RM2.3 billion) market maker fund to encourage trading activity.

“Yes, there has been talk about it.

Yes, there has been, perhaps a little bit more flesh on the whole subject than there has been in the past,” Clark said in an interview for the upcoming Reuters Next conference when asked if a listing was a possibility.

“I’m waiting instructions as to how this is going to affect the Emirates Group. What the government of Dubai decides to do...is up to them, I would basically do as I am bid.”

Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said earlier this month that it was possible to list the carrier or its subsidiaries.

Governments have pumped billions of dollars into airlines during the coronavirus pandemic and stateowned Emirates has received around US$3.8 billion (RM16 billion) in equity injections from Dubai, including US$2 billion disclosed last year.

The airline posted a loss of 5.8 billion dirham for the AprilSeptember period, down from a 12.6 billion dirham loss for the same period last year.

However, Clark said he does not expect further government support over the next year so long as the new variant of the coronavirus does not cause too much disruption.

He added that although Emirates would still suffer a loss this year, it would be considerably smaller than in the preceding 12 months. For 2022, he expected the airline to break even or make a profit.