K&L Gates advises on Nasdaq Dubai’s Second REIT IPO

K&L Gates has advised Emirates NBD Asset Management and ENBD REIT (CEIC) Limited (ENBD REIT) on ENBD REIT’s initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq Dubai.

ENBD REIT is a Sharia’h-compliant Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) managed by Emirates NBD Asset Management and established in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). This is the second REIT to IPO on Nasdaq Dubai. The first was Emirates REIT in 2014, a transaction on which K&L Gates also advised.

The ENBD IPO raised USD105 million and was over-subscribed. The project also involved a complex redomiciliation of Emirates NBD Asset Management’s former Jersey fund to the DIFC for the IPO.

The K&L Gates team was led by capital markets partner Owen Waft, who was primarily assisted by associate Mona Lemp with support from counsel Adela Mues, associates Jennifer Lovesy, Hamzeh Al Rasheed and Rachel Dawson, as well as paralegal Christine Jung.

ENBD REIT invests in Sharia’ah-compliant real estate assets and its securities are listed on Nasdaq Dubai as shares. REITs are a fund through which investors receive income from the properties in which the REIT invests, through dividends.