(Bloomberg) -- Tecom Group is set to price its initial public offering at the top of the range, signaling continued strong demand for listings in the Middle East even as regional markets give up many of the year’s gains.

Dubai’s government may sell shares in the business-park operator at 2.67 dirhams apiece, according to terms seen by Bloomberg on Thursday, raising as much as $454 million. The initial range was set at 2.46 dirhams to 2.67 dirhams and attracted enough demand to cover the books at the top end on the first day.

Despite correcting sharply last month as Gulf markets caught up with a global sell off, over growing concerns of a recession due to aggressive monetary tightening, the region’s equities are still mostly up from last year’s levels. The Dubai Financial Market General Index has shed more than 13% from a May high, but is still up about 0.5% since the start of the year.

Tecom’s IPO is the second of 10 planned privatizations as part of Dubai’s plans to deepen its capital markets after years of flagging volumes. The first of these share sales, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority’s $6.1 billion offering in April, drew overwhelming demand from both regional and international investors and ranks as the world’s second-biggest IPO of the year.

Tecom houses more than 7,500 companies and 10 large business complexes including Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City. Its customers include Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook.

Its listing comes amid a surge in Dubai property values. Prime real-estate prices rose 56% in 2021, according to Knight Frank, topping every other major city and far exceeding increases of 1.3% in London, 3.6% in New York and 19% in San Francisco.

Like many other listings in the region, Tecom is luring investors in with juicy dividend yields. It is targeting an annual dividend of 800 million dirhams over the next three years, implying a yield of about 6% at the top end of the price range. 

Tecom shares are expected to debut on the Dubai stock exchange on July 5. Emirates NBD Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and UBS Group AG are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.

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