German food delivery giant Delivery Hero has hired banks to work on the listing of its Dubai unit on the local stock market this year.

The company has tapped Emirates NBD, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase for the initial public offering (IPO) of Talabat, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

The offering could attract around $1 billion, although the valuation has not been finalised and more banks could also be hired, the report said.

Delivery Hero announced last week its plans to list its Talabat business on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in the fourth quarter of the year.

The company said the execution of the share sale is still subject to market conditions, as well as regulatory and corporate approvals.

IPO activity in the Gulf region has picked up, with share offerings raising $2.6 billion in the second quarter of the year, outpacing the previous year’s $1.8 billion, according to PwC. 

Saudi Arabia led the activity, accounting for more than half ($1.6 billion) of the total proceeds.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com