Dubai’s Emaar Properties is seeking to raise as much as 5.8bn dirhams ($1.58bn) from an initial public offer of shares in its shopping malls unit that is expected to be the Gulf’s biggest stock sale since 2008.

The planned listing of Emaar Malls Group (EMG) underlines Dubai’s gradual recovery from its financial crisis, which erupted in 2009, and is expected to pave the way for other companies to list on the emirate’s stock markets after a drought of IPOs.

Emaar, the emirate’s largest real estate developer, expects to sell 2bn shares in EMG, representing 15.4% of the unit’s share capital, in a price range of 2.50 to 2.90 dirhams per share, it said on Sunday.

The share sale started yesterday and will end on September 24 for retail investors and on September 26 for institutional investors; Emaar has said it aims to allocate at least 60% of the offer to institutions and no more than 40% to retail investors. EMG shares will then list on the Dubai Financial Market on October 2.

At the mid-point of that range, EMG’s market capitalisation upon listing its shares would be approximately 35.1bn dirhams, said Emaar, builder of the world’s tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa.

Brokerage firm Naeem Holding said the price range suggested EMG’s valuation in the offer would be “a bit stretched”. It estimated that at the mid-point of the range, EMG would have a price-to-earnings ratio based on this year’s earnings of 28.5 times. That would be above the parent firm’s roughly 25 times and the broader market’s 16, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Nevertheless, investors’ belief in the long-term growth of Dubai’s retail sector may mean there is no shortage of demand for the offer.

Dubai’s government owns about 30% of Emaar Properties, which plans to pay a special dividend related to the IPO of around 9bn dirhams to its shareholders: 5.3bn dirhams from the IPO proceeds and 3.7bn dirhams from a dividend already paid by EMG to its parent.

Emaar Properties shifted its focus beyond housing to the more profitable retail and hospitality business after the 2009 financial crisis resulted in the collapse of the real estate market. The retail sector has benefited from a strong rebound in the emirate’s economy on the back of a tourism and trade boom.

All of EMG’s assets are in Dubai with the largest being Dubai Mall, one of the world’s largest shopping malls, which the company claims sells approximately 50% of all luxury goods sold in the emirate.