DP World London listing on 1 June

Shares in DP World, the third largest ports operator in the world, will begin trading on the London Stock Exchange on 1 June, a company statement said on Wednesday, as the firm seeks to boost liquidity.

DP World - considered one of the more profitable units of debt-laden Dubai World - said in April that it planned for a one-for-20 share consolidation to put its share price more on a par with global companies.

‘It is anticipated that, subject to the approval of the UK Listing Authority, the first day of trading will be Wednesday 1 June 2011,’ the statement said.

At the time of writing, a copy of the prospectus had not yet been published. The port operator said its consolidated volume growth in the first quarter was 7.5 per cent, adding that its gross volumes were up by 12 per cent.

DP World has said its free float would remain unchanged at 19.55 per cent. The consolidation will reduce the number of issued shares to 830 million from 16.6 billion. Citi and Deutsche Bank are joint sponsors to DP World while HSBC is the company’s financial advisor. Shares in DP World, listed on Nasdaq Dubai, ended 1.8 per cent lower on Wednesday. – Reuters