Amlak Finance, a unit of Dubai's property group Emaar said on Wednesday it would sell a 55 percent stake worth 412.5 million dirhams ($112 million) in an initial public offering at the weekend.
A company statement said a 10-day subscription period for 412.5 million shares priced at one dirham each would open on January 18 to nationals of the United Arab Emirates and expatriates.
Emaar will retain a 45-percent stake and raise its share of the capital to 337.5 million dirhams, helping increase Amlak's total capital to 750 million dirhams after the IPO from a current 110 million dirhams, a company official told Reuters.
Amlak is to function after the IPO as an Islamic financial institution. Such institutions use a system of profit sharing from returns on approved investments, avoiding the payment of interest, seen as usury by many Muslims.
Emaar, majority-owned by Dubai government, reported net profits of 503 million dirhams in the first nine months of 2003, up 24 percent from the same period in 2002.
It was the first firm in the UAE to allow foreigners to buy shares.