The story of the summer doldrums in the IPO market in the MENA region has now become an old wives’ tale. Most analysts say the IPO market is set to sizzle this summer as some big-name companies trying to capitalize on the bull market to go public. A surge in domestic liquidity and market reforms has sharply boosted IPO activity in the region this year and economists in the GCC expect the region to achieve new IPO benchmarks in 2008. These favorable predictions come despite continued doubts over the attractiveness of one GCC exchange for stock market debutants, namely the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX). In the latest IPO cancellation case on DIFX, Lebanese-owned Future Pipe Industries Group said at the end of May it now favors listing in Europe, on either the London Stock Exchange or on Euronext N.V. Future Pipes cancelled its $487 million IPO on DIFX in
