Capital markets in Oman have expanded considerably over the course of 2013 and 2014, driven by strong fundamentals, increasing economic diversification, and prudent market regulation and oversight. In the first nine months of 2014 market capitalisation of the Muscat Securities Market (MSM), Oman’s stock exchange, increased by 16% after growing 21.4% in 2013, according to...
The capital markets sector is expected to play a key role in the government’s ongoing push to encourage the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A focus of the government’s plans since the mid-2000s, SMEs are seen as integral to Oman’s future for a variety of reasons. They drive private sector growth, much of it in the non-oil economy, and create...
Al Anwar Holding Company is an investment holding company originally formed in 1994 for investments in industrial ventures such as power, oil and gas, glass, paints and certain other industrials. The company undertakes private equity investments with a primary focus on the GCC region. Al Anwar has historically targeted investments in growing small and medium-sized...
Two Omani electricity generation companies – Al Batinah and Al Suwadi – opened their initial public offerings (IPOs) in May 2014. Al Batinah offered 236m shares at a price of OR0.128 ($0.33), totalling OR30m ($77.7m), while Al Suwadi offered 250m shares at a price of OR0.13 ($0.34) per share, for a total of OR32m ($82.9m). Both offered to sell 35% stakes to the public in...
Bank Sohar was established in March 2007 as a commercial bank following an initial public offering (IPO) in December 2006. The bank was launched with authorised capital of OR100m ($259m) and paid-up capital of OR50m ($129.5m). The bank has since grown its balance sheet substantially to become the fourth-largest bank by assets in Oman. The bank’s total assets grew from...
In January 2013 the Capital Market Authority (CMA), Oman’s capital markets and insurance sector regulatory agency, released draft regulations covering the issuance of sukuk – sharia-compliant debt instruments that function much like conventional bonds. Sukuk are the latest in a series of Islamic financial institutions and products to be introduced...
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