Oman's privatisation drive will get another boost today when shares of the state-owned Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) are listed on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM).
The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has decided to allot shares to all eligible applicants of Omantel's initial public offering (IPO), with a maximum of 2,850 shares to an individual investor.
Those who applied for less than the maximum allotment would get the full allotment, according to the CMA circular. BankMuscat, the lead manager for the issue, rejected 858 applications due to incomplete formalities or duplicate applications.
According to a CMA spokesperson, 147,186 investors have been allotted all the shares they requested.
This represents 91 per cent of the 161,339 eligible applicants.
The trading of shares on the MSM will start at 1.280 riyals (Dh12.16) per share or more or less based on the floated shares.
The IPO of Omantel, which ran from June 11 to July 10, turned out to be a mega success, breaking all records by attracting more than 700 million riyals (Dh6650 million) from more than 163,000 investors. In the process it was oversubscribed three-fold.
Omantel entered the market with an IPO of 225 million shares at a price of 1.280 riyals (Dh12.16) per share, totalling 288 million riyals (Dh2,736 million) with a face value of 100 baisa.
The government intended to divest 225 million shares or 30 per cent of the company's paid-up capital of 75 million riyals (Dh712.5 million).
Of this, 157.5 million shares were offered to Omani individual investors, and 67.5 million shares to specified pension funds and charitable organisations.
The CMA also said that the over-subscribed money would be returned to investors in the next two days.
Only Omani nationals were eligible to take part in the IPO.
However, after the shares have been listed for three months, foreign investors will be allowed to buy them on the secondary market.
