DUBAI: Shares in Parkin, which oversees public parking operations, jumped more than 30% in their debut on Dubai bourse on Thursday after the company raised $429 million from investors in the emirate’s first privatisation deal this year.

Shares rose as much as 31.4% to 2.76 dirhams ($0.7516) apiece after market open versus its initial public offering (IPO) price of 2.1 dirhams.

Parkin’s IPO was oversubscribed 165 times, attracting $71 billion in demand, a record-breaking debut for Dubai.

Gulf governments are racing to list state companies in a bid to deepen capital markets, part of a wider push to cut their reliance on oil.

With Dubai Taxi Company and Parkin, IPOs in emirate are booming: what’s next?

Companies in Dubai have raised 34.5 billion dirhams in the last three years through the sale of shares on the Dubai stock exchange, according to the Dubai Securities and Exchange Higher Committee.

Parkin is the latest of six privatisations embarked upon by the government, first announced in 2021 as part of a programme to list 10 government-linked companies to attract investment to its domestic bourse.

Dubai to sell 25% stake in public parking business via IPO

Dubai Taxi Company’s IPO late last year raised $316 million through the sale of a 25% stake, which was oversubscribed 130 times.