Malabar Gold & Diamonds joins Nasdaq Dubai’s Private Market

Malabar Investments, the international investment arm of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, has announced that it has redomiciled the company with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the registration of its shares of international operations with Nasdaq Dubai’s Central Securities Depository (CSD).

The move is a significant step that strengthens Malabar’s links with investors and provides the company with a transparent, well regulated, efficient and secured solution for its share-related corporate actions.

Malabar Group’s Chairman M. P. Ahammed rang Nasdaq Dubai’s market-opening bell, in the presence of Essa Kazim, DIFC Governor and Chairman of Dubai Financial Market (DFM); Dr. PA Ibrahim Haji, Co-Chairman of Malabar Group; Hamed Ali, CEO of Nasdaq Dubai and Deputy CEO of DFM, as well as other senior representatives from both sides.

The group’s entry into the Nasdaq Dubai Private Market enables its 300+ shareholders from international operations to buy and sell shares with the approval of the Board of Directors through brokerage companies like Emirates ENBD Securities.

Transfers of ownership will take place securely in Nasdaq Dubai’s Central Securities Depository (CSD), while trading will take place off-exchange as the company remains privately held.

Essa Kazim commented, “As the leading centre of excellence and international financial hub of the region, Dubai has been committed to provide various types of companies with numerous opportunities to avail benefits of capital markets and empower their growth strategies.

“The world-class business environment of DIFC as well as the infrastructure and regulations of Nasdaq Dubai have been a key success factor in continuously attracting numerous leading businesses from across the globe whether to set up new companies, redomicile their current activities or implement their capital market transactions.” The DIFC is the leading financial hub for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA), which comprises 72 countries with an approximate population of 3 billion and a nominal GDP of US$7.7 trillion.

For his part, the Chairman of Malabar Group said, “As Malabar Gold & Diamonds continues to grow internationally, it has become imminent that the holding company be based in a jurisdiction like DIFC with high international standards of transparency, regulations and compliance. The Board has also recognised the requirement of having an independent regulated authority as the registrar of shares (being Nasdaq Dubai) with share transfer occurring through a more formalised and transparent process.”