MUSCAT, 9 June 2005 — With Omantel’s long awaited initial public offering to be launched on Saturday, Oman’s stock exchange is in an unprecedentedly buoyant mood, market analysts said today. Yesterday, the Muscat Securities Market, now in its 16th year, hit an all-time high, lifting the general index to 5,170.4 points, surpassing the previous best of 5,098.3 recorded on Feb. 3, 1998.
The government is to sell 30 percent of it’s ownership in Omantel, the country’s top telecom service provider. Omantel has been valued at 750 million Omani rials, around $2 billion, for the issue, which is going to be the biggest ever in Oman’s history. The share with a nominal value of one hundred Omani baizas will be offered to the public at one rial and two hundred eighty baizas. The issue is restricted to Omani nationals with nine percent being set aside for Omani pension funds.
The issue, to be closed on July 11, will be listed on the MSM from July 31. Trading in the stock will be restricted to Omani nationals and institutions for the first three months before foreign investment is allowed in.
“This unprecedented buoyancy reflects not only the transparency the MSM has achieved through a series of regulations since the 1998 crash, it also shows the economic boom in the country caused by diversification as well as high oil prices,” Mohammed Zaman, an Omani entrepreneur told Arab News. “Oman’s macroeconomy has never been so promising.”
He also attributed the bullish mood to the billions of dollars being pumped into Oman’s emerging tourism industry and infrastructure. Only last Saturday, the $15 billion “Blue City,” Oman’s biggest tourism project, was launched to attract sightseers from across the world.