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DUBAI - Emirates airline president Tim Clark said any initial public offering (IPO) by the largest Arab carrier should value it at up to $30 billion, based on multiples and profitability.
The Times newspaper reported that state-owned Emirates is considering an IPO that could value the company at up to $20 billion.
Clark said he had "no knowledge" of any decision by the Dubai government to sell shares.
"Based on our multiples and profitability, our Heathrow slots, I would say we should be valued at between US$20 billion and US$30 billion," Clark told Reuters by telephone. "US$20 billion is a minimum."
DP World, the world's fourth-largest container port operator, will be the first Dubai government-owned company to sell shares in an IPO planned for next month.
"More and more Dubai companies will see that this is important in the near future," The Times quoted Emirates Chairman Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum as saying.
"The DP World IPO is a very positive thing. I think, for sure, Emirates will also, in the future, do something like that," he said, according to The Times.
An Emirates spokeswoman confirmed Sheikh Ahmed's comments but said he made no mention of the value of the company. The Times did not say how it calculated the figure.
"Eventually, as expressed by our chairman during the interview, any decision for an IPO rests with our owners, the government of Dubai," the spokeswoman said in a written statement.
Sheikh Ahmed is a member of Dubai's executive committee headed by Dubai's ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
DP World plans to sell about 20 per cent of the company. It aims to raise about US$4 billion, valuing the company at about US$20 billion, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
Emirates, which started in 1985 with two aircraft, has grown to be the largest Arab airline, rivalling carriers such as Qantas Airways Ltd and Singapore Airlines for passenger traffic between Europe and east Asia.
The airline operates 105 aircraft and plans to boost that to more than 180 by 2013, expanding its network of 85 destinations to 110, by adding destinations in south and north America, Africa and east Asia, Clark said last month.
Emirates, the largest customer for the Airbus A380, posted a 20 per cent increase in profit to US$517.4 million in the six months to March 31. It moved 10.5 million people, compared with 7.52 million passengers in the year-earlier period.
The A380, the world's biggest passenger plane, can carry more than 800 passengers.
- REUTERS
