Most companies that list successfully start preparing well before they choose a bank or a date. Advisers who work on Gulf, Central Asian and London listings usually describe a path of 12-24 months from the start of preparation to the first trading day, and longer if the group needs a new holding company or several years of IFRS accounts have to be produced from scratch.
We split the path into ten stages. The first five are internal work that the company controls: assessing readiness, moving to IFRS and an audit acceptable to the exchange, restructuring into a holding company, building corporate governance and hiring the adviser team. The second five involve the market and the regulator: the prospectus, approval by the regulator and the exchange, the roadshow and bookbuilding, listing day and the obligations that follow.
Exchanges differ more than many owners expect. DFM and ADX are onshore UAE markets supervised by the CMA (formerly SCA); Nasdaq Dubai sits in the DIFC under the DFSA; AIX operates in the AIFC in Astana under the AFSA; London offers both the Main Market and AIM. The number of years of audited accounts, the free float, the role of a sponsor or Nomad and the corporate form of the issuer all depend on that choice, so it is worth making early.
Each article explains what has to be done, who does it, which documents appear and where projects typically stall. Figures are taken from exchange rules and cited sources; where a reliable figure is not available, we describe the requirement qualitatively. The guide is educational and is not investment, legal or tax advice.