One of the main objectives of the New Law was to boost IPO activities in the UAE and align UAE capital markets, to the extent possible, with international standards and practices. Hence, most of the key amendments and increments of the New Law were focused in the chapters relating to public offerings and public joint stock companies. The new provisions aim to provide more comfort to investment banks and issuers, facilitate the offering process and enhance corporate governance practices of public joint stock companies. 

Interestingly, however, Article 279 of the New Law does not appear to be consistent with the liberal spirit and objectives of the New Law. This article will briefly shed the light on the implications of Article 279 on future IPOs, in particular those which will be structured as secondary offerings or a combination of both primary and secondary offerings.