Another big year for initial public offerings in the Middle East closed with a crescendo in 2024, when food delivery app Talabat raised $2 billion and began trading on Dubai’s bourse on Dec. 10. Notably, Talabat’s mega deal was the largest tech IPO globally in 2024, as well as the region’s largest overall listing. 

2024 saw IPOs in the Middle East haul in over $13 billion, up nearly 25% over 2023, and the region also produced three of the year’s 10 largest listings worldwide, according to PWC's Global IPO Watch 2024. In a year where global IPO proceeds fell by 9% amid an ongoing market downturn, the Middle East again served as a bright spot for issuances, continuing a yearslong market boom powered by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. However, a closer look reveals a more complicated picture. 

Initially, 2024 was shaping up as a somewhat slower year for new stock offerings: Through Q3, the Middle East and North Africa produced 29 total IPOs that raised $4.8 billion, according to Ernst & Young, which put proceeds down about 17% compared to the same period in 2023. Some of this was due to a typically slow summer season and Ramadan, but it also came after regional IPO proceeds fell by 50% in 2023 following a bumper 2022, when a record 51 local offerings netted about $22 billion. 

Yet Gulf deals roared back in Q4 2024, led by Talabat. In October, Omani state oil firm OQ’s exploration and production business (or OQEP) raised $2 billion on Muscat’s exchange — a record IPO for the sultanate — and November saw hypermarket chain operator Lulu Retail’s $1.7 billion IPO on Abu Dhabi’s exchange. Plus, it should be noted that 2024’s IPO totals don’t reflect Saudi Aramco’s $12 billion secondary share sale in June, a follow-up to its historic 2019 IPO.