ADX looks for $200bn listings

The Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) plans to attract companies with total market capitalisation of at least $200 billion (Dh734bn) in the next two years, London-based Meed reported, citing the chief executive.

The companies are expected to apply for initial public offerings when the Abu Dhabi Government approves an amendment enabling private companies to list just 30 per cent of their equity, Tom Healy said.

"Quite a few of the new companies are in real estate, some others will be retail," he said.

"They want to use the markets as a source of funding for further growth. If you go to a seriously oil-rich economy that wants to turn its oil-based economy into a non-oil-based economy, you are going to make money," Healy said.

The government is expected to privatise more state-owned enterprises, including the stock exchange, according to Healy.

The Abu Dhabi Exchange has launched a series of roadshows in Singapore and Tokyo this year as well as in New York and London last year to help attract foreign investments.

Foreign investments from outside the Middle East in the Abu Dhabi bourse reached Dh3.1bn in 2006, the acting director-general Rashed Al Baloushi said last year.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.