Markets

Oman’s OQBI poised to make Muscat bourse debut

December 5, 2024, 4:24 PM

OQBI has offloaded 49% of its shares, with 40% going to retail investors

Third state oil unit to float
$489m raised from IPO
Shares debut on December 15

Oman’s OQ Base Industries will debut on Muscat’s bourse on December 15 after the state oil company subsidiary completed a $489 million initial public offering.

OQBI, the third OQ unit to float since March 2023, has offloaded 49 percent of its shares.

Of the shares sold, 30 percent went to institutions, 40 percent to retail investors and 30 percent to anchor investors.

The company, which produces methanol, ammonia and liquefied petroleum gas, had already set a price of OMR0.111 ($0.29) per share for retail and institutional subscribers.

A statement on X implied that anchor investors have paid the same price, with OQBI raising OMR188 million ($489 million) from the IPO.

The offering was 2.1 times oversubscribed and OQBI will list on the Muscat Stock Exchange on December 15, the company said.

In October OQ Exploration and Production (OQEP) raised OMR748.8 million ($1.94 billion) in Oman’s largest-ever initial public offering, selling 25 percent of its shares in a process that unlike the OQBI flotation gave a discount to retail investors.

OQ’s pipeline business OQ Gas Networks (OQGN) also went public last year, raising $749 million through offloading 49 percent of its shares.

OQEP’s shares ended Wednesday at OMR0.349, down 10.5 percent on its IPO price of OMR0.390. OQGN closed at OMR0.133, which is 5 percent below its IPO price.

Muscat’s stock index is flat this year, having fallen 4.8 percent since October 20’s five-month high.