Mall of Qatar developer UCC said to consider $1 billion Doha IPO

DOHA / Bloomberg

UrbaCon Trading & Contracting Co., the construction firm building the Mall of Qatar, is considering an initial public offering in Doha that may raise about $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
UCC, as the Qatari company is also known, has spoken
to advisers about managing
an IPO, which could occur by the fourth quarter of this
year or early 2017, the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private. The process is at an early stage, and the value may change or UCC may decide against selling shares to the public, they said.
Representatives from UCC didn’t have an immediate
comment. UCC is one of the largest contractors in Qatar. The firm is designing and building the Mall of Qatar, adjacent to a soccer stadium that will host the 2022 World Cup, according to its website. If the company decides to go ahead with the listing, it would be the second IPO on the Qatari exchange in more than five years. Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Co. raised 3.2 billion riyals ($880 million) in an IPO in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
IPOs and additional share sales on Middle Eastern and African exchanges raised about $10 billion last year, 30 percent less than 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.