AMMAN, 19 March 2006 — An initial public offering for Jordan’s Taameer, the country’s largest property firm, was oversubscribed 14 times and raised over $1 billion, the founders said yesterday. Subscriptions to one of the largest IPO’s in Jordan’s history totaled more than 760.5 million dinars ($1.072 billion), they said. “This unexpected result that comes at a time when Arab bourses were going through tough times only reflects the confidence of local and Arab investors in Jordan and the positive investment outlook,” Khaled Dahleh, the vice chairman of the founders committee and a leading investor, told Reuters.
Dahleh said the heavy demand by local investors showed excess liquidity was available despite heavy falls in the Amman bourse in the last few weeks which investors partly blamed on share offerings earlier this year which absorbed funds. “Liquidity is abundant but investors are looking for firms with solid prospects and assets,” Dahleh added.
The 53 million shares offered at a nominal value of one dinar each ($1.4) represented a 25 percent stake in the country’s largest property development firm, owned by several leading financial institutions and Arab investors. The IPO which was open for Jordanian and Arab Gulf investors and ran for two weeks from Feb. 28 generated 162,000 applications.
