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Omantel’s public offer 105% subscribed

Omantel’s public offer 105% subscribed
Omantel
OTEL
0.00% 1.08 0.00
Muscat Securities Market announced that, the Public Offer of Oman Telecommunications Co (Omantel) shares to Omani individuals, the subscription for which closed on April 13, was oversubscribed with a demand for nearly 75 million shares against 71.25 million shares on offer.
Total collections in the Public Offer were OMR 101.4 million against issue size of OMR 96.2 million for offered shares.
Expressing his satisfaction at the results of the Public Offer, Saud Nasser Al Shukaily, Chairman of the Supervisory Committee for Omantel Divestment at the Ministry of Finance, thanked all the Omani investors for their good response to the Government’s initiative to further privatize Omantel.
Shukaily explained that the objective of this initiative were to increase ownership of Omantel among Omani institutional and individual investors, to enhance widespread public participation in the privatization process initiated by the Government, to enhance trading activities and energize the market, to enhance domestic investment in the national economy and to maximize shareholder value.
He highlighted that the Public Offer received in excess of 20,600 applications, which was one of the highest in recent times. The average application size of approximately 3,600 shares or approximately OMR 4,900 in the Public Offer was also a positive indicator that Omani investors had invested for the longer term opportunities in Omantel, On an overall basis, with Phase I - Private Placement and Phase II - Public Offer combined, Ministry of Finance received applications for 216.7 million shares against 142.5 million shares offered as part of the Omantel divestment programme.
This amounts to an overall oversubscription with applications received for 1.52 times of the number of shares offered.
He further elaborated that for the Public Offer, the Ministry of Finance in consultation with the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and the Financial Advisors – Bank Muscat had decided to do a pro-rata allotment as laid down in the Information Memorandum for the Public Offer.
All the subscribers with valid applications have been allotted 95.02% of the shares applied for. BankMuscat has completed the allotment 2 days ahead of the dates mentioned in the Information Memorandum despite the large number of applications and the refunds will commence on 23rd April 2014, 4 days ahead of the projected date of 27th April 2014. The shares would be available for trading by early next week. Letters to subscribers intimating allotment and refunds will also be sent by MCDC starting 24 April 2014.
Earlier, Bank Muscat who were both Financial Advisors and Issue Managers for the Issue highlighted that entire Omantel divestment involving Private Placement and Public Offer netted nearly OMR 204 million (US$ 529 million) for the Government and was one of the significant divestments not only in Oman but in the entire GCC region in recent times.
Bank Muscat pointed out that the Public Offer was particularly challenging as it was one of the largest issues on MSM in recent times, exclusively open for Omani investors.
They expressed satisfaction on the outcome of both the Phases of the divestment process and also on the achievement of the stated government objectives for this transaction. Shukaily thanked BankMuscat, MCDC and various advisors to the Government for the continued support extended to the team at the Ministry, as well as the collecting banks and the news media .He also expressed gratitude towards the Capital Markets Authority for their support and continued guidance to this important initiative from the Government.