DUBAI-BASED Depa United Group, a specialist in fitting out the interiors of luxury buildings and boats, is planning a London listing early next week.

Depa, which is the world’s fifth biggest interior-design company and last year won a $163m (£78m) contract to fit out 899 apartments in Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, is seeking to raise an estimated $400m by way of a partial float to fund its ambitious international expansion plans.

The listing marks yet another in a line of Gulf-based companies raising money in the capital markets for expansion. The ruler of Dubai – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – has ambitions to establish the emir-ate as a major capital-markets hub and diversify away from dwindling oil revenues towards financial services, tourism, real estate and shipping.

Noor Sweid, managing director of Depa, told a Gulf website: “We’re looking to raise the money so we can keep on growing and enter new countries.”

The group is an amalgamation of several merged companies specialising in interior design for luxury hotels and yachts.

Depa has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Milan and Cairo. Hotel group clients include Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt and Four Seasons.

Last month, DP World, one of the biggest port companies in the world, announced a $20 billion flotation in one of the year’s biggest listings.

The company, which bought British firm P&O last year, said it would sell a 20% stake to global financial institutions and individual local investors in a move that is expected to raise $4 billion. Shares in DP World will be listed on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), and will represent the largest flotation from the Middle East.

Further flotations in the pipe-line are likely to include Emir-ates, the airline owned by the ruling family.

Investment bankers in the region said that DP World’s decision to float on the DIFX represented a huge vote of confidence in the fledgling exchange. One said: “It will provide huge liquidity on the exchange and greatly encourage others to follow suit.”

The owner of the exchange, Borse Dubai, is in talks to try and buy OMX, the Scandinavian stock-exchange group.

As part of the deal, Borse Dubai is locked in discussions with its Qatari rivals over a complicated share swap whereby the Qataris would relinquish their 10% stake in OMX to Dubai, in exchange for a stake in the London Stock Exchange currently held by Borse Dubai.

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