The United Arab Emirates has finally decided to go ahead with a new commercial law that would allow family owned firms to go public and list on the country’s two stock exchanges by floating between 30% and 50% of their shares in an IPO, rather than the current requirements of 55%. The move by the UAE has received high accolades and analysts say this will encourage more family businesses to raise capital by going public. In the past, family businesses were reluctant to use this route because most did not want to give up controlling stakes in their companies. The new law will allow them to maintain majority control while giving them access to liquidity on the stock markets. The timing for this is very important at this juncture as the IPO market in the region continues to experience substantial upward movement and new records are expected to be set
