(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for our Middle East newsletter and follow us @middleeast for news on the region.

Dubai-based StarLink has ditched plans for a local listing to merge with Infinigate Group AG, a deal that will create a cybersecurity and cloud services firm with about $2.2 billion in revenue.

After the merger, Infinigate -- which is by backed by buyout specialist Bridgepoint Advisers Ltd. -- will serve more than 50 markets with 1,100 employees, according to a statement. The combined entity is expected to have a total revenue of EUR2.2 billion ($2.2 billion) in 2023. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

StarLink had been working with Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes to list on the Nasdaq Dubai bourse in the first quarter of this year in what would have been the first initial public offering of an IT firm on the exchange, its chief executive officer said in a 2021 interview. 

Although StarLink’s founders will remain invested in the combined entity, the deal marks a rare exit for a homegrown tech-focused firm in Dubai. Instead of pursuing a local listing with only domestic investors, the company now hopes to expand internationally with the merger, according to StarLink Chief Executive Officer Nidal Othman.

Bridgepoint, a private equity firm focusing on mid-market deals with EUR37 billion in assets under management, acquired Switzerland-based Infinigate from H.I.G. Capital for an undisclosed sum in 2021. Infinigate in recent months expanded through two acquisitions.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.