Malabar Gold plans IPO by 2020, contemplates dual-listing in Dubai
Malabar Gold's international MD expects the market for gold will 'pick up very fast' ahead of Expo 2020 Dubai
The world’s fifth biggest jeweller by sales, Malabar Gold, will file for an IPO by 2020 and is looking at exchanges in Dubai or London, in addition to India, according to the company’s international operations chief.
“Our Indian operations will grow aggressively this year and we will definitely go for an IPO in India by 2020,” said Shamlal Ahammed, managing director international operations at Malabar Gold.
"But we will look to dual list and are considering doing that in either Dubai or London."
Ahammed was speaking with Arabian Business sister title CEO Middle East during an exclusive interview where he said that the company is gearing up for rapid international expansion, including in the US, the UK, Middle East and South Asia.
“We want to expand globally,” said Ahammed, “but we don’t take on much debt. We believe in equity.”
More than 40 percent of Malabar Gold is owned by family and relatives of the founder and chairman MP Ahamed who grew the company from a single outlet in India in 1993 into a network of 215 outlets across the world.
“We have a lot of investors in the business because most of our employees have share options. And we have been paying out in excess of 24 percent of profits as dividends,” said Ahammed.
Malabar Gold is now experimenting with store formats to attract a new market of buyers including those from Europe, the Levant, and tourists to its retail outlets in the UK as well as in the wider Middle East region.
“We’ve had a slowdown in the Middle East for the last couple years. But 2019 with the Expo in 2020, the market for gold will pick up very fast,” he said.
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