Middle East Sees Year-End IPO Rush, Despite War and Global Gloom

The market for new share sales sprang to life in the Middle East, where investors snapped up all stock on offer in a taxi company in under an hour and put in orders worth $12 billion for a crypto-related firm, against the backdrop of a subdued market for global listings and the Israel-Hamas war.

The flurry of deals started early on Tuesday, as investors piled into Dubai Taxi Co.’s $315 million IPO — a deal that marked the emirate’s first privatization in a year. Meantime, the biggest Mideast health-care platform announcedplans to list, while crypto mining hardware retailer ...