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Oman’s methanol, ammonia and LPG producer OQ Base Industries (OQBI) has set its offer price at 111 baisa ($0.29) per share, at top of the range, implying a market capitalisation of 384 million Omani rial ($1 billion).
OQBI raised OMR 188 million rials in an offering comprising a total of 1.69 billion shares, representing 49% of OQBI’s total issued share capital. Parent company, Oman’s state oil group OQ SAOC will retain the remaining 51%.
OQBI had set its offer price range between BZS 106 Omani baisa and BZS 111 baisa per share.
The offering achieved an aggregate demand of more than OMR 387 million from local, regional and international investors across anchors, Category I and Category II offerings with books 2.1x subscribed (including anchors) at the final IPO offer price.
OQBI raised OMR 236 million from institutional investors under the Category I offer and OMR 95 million from retail investors under the Category II offer.
The company’s Category I and Category II offerings were subscribed 4.2x and 1.3x, respectively, with limited order inflation.
OQBI has also named four anchor investors, including Falcon Investments, a subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The remaining anchor investors include Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation, the Saudi Omani Investment Company and the Social Protection Fund of Oman. Each committed to subscribe to 7.5% of the offering, or up to OMR 56 million, aggregating to 30% of the offer, at top of the range.
OQBI shares are expected to commence trading on the MSX on 15 December 2024.
The company expects to pay a dividend of OMR 32.7 million for the fiscal year 2024, for the first nine months in January 2025 and the remaining three months in April 2025.
Bank Dhofar SAOG, Bank Muscat SAOG, and Morgan Stanley & Co. International have been appointed as joint global coordinators, with Bank Dhofar SAOG and Bank Muscat SAOG also appointed as issue managers.
With this IPO, OQBI parent company OQ SAOC, will complete the divestment of four companies over the past two years and listing them on MSX. The last, in October, was the listing of its exploration and production business, which saw OQEP raise $2.03 billion, in the sultanate’s biggest ever.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
