UAE-based Dubizzle Group is preparing to float on the stock market, with an IPO set for 2025.
According to the Gulf-focused newspaper, Zawya, Dubizzle Group has also mandated Emirates NBD, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and Morgan Stanley to facilitate a deal worth between $500 million and $1 billion.
Dubizzle Group has been rumoured to be in talks for an IPO since at least 2022 when it raised a fundraising round worth $200 million led by the American investment firm Affinity Partners.
The company has undergone major strategic shifts to accomplish its goal of becoming a public company. The Group rebranded from EMPG last year, before appointing a new CFO weeks later. The Group then took the tough decision to make "wide-randing" layoffs at Lamudi Indonesia to streamline the business, then followed this up by divesting from Lamudi Indonesia and the Philippines in late 2023.
Today, Dubizzle Group owns several leading marketplaces in the Gulf region, led by its namesake Dubizzle in the UAE. Other big-name assets include the property vertical Bayut (the UAE's biggest dedicated real estate portal) and Zameen in Pakistan (where Frontier Digital Ventures is also a shareholder).
Group CEO Imran Ali Khan joined the PPW Podcast earlier this year, watch the full episode below:
Online Marketplaces editor Edmund Keith also spoke to Imran Ali Khan in an off-stage interview at the Madrid Proptech and Portal Watch conference in 2023. Read the full interview here.