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'SAMENA Daily' - News

Oversubscription seen in Omantel’s public offer

Oman Telecommunication Company's (Omantel) OMR96-million share offer to Omani individuals might have received good response, market sources said.

Although a final subscription figure is yet to come out, market sources indicated that around 25,000 investors might have applied for the share offer and the subscription was seen at 1.5-2 times.

Oman government offered 71.25 million shares in Omantel, which was second part of the divestment programme, to Omani individual investors in a two week-long subscription that closed on April 13.

This followed the successful completion of the first phase under which there was private placement of 71.25 million shares with high net worth Omani individuals and institutions on a book building basis.

Share allotment
When contacted, Saud Nasser Al Shukaily, chairman of the Supervisory Committee for Omantel Divestment at the Ministry of Finance, said that the final collection figure would be available only by the week-end. Also, share allotment will be carried out in consultation with the Capital Market Authority (CMA).

The issue manager Bank Muscat will advise the government on allotment and thereafter, it will be finalised in consultation with the Capital Market Authority.

Like in the case of previous initial public offerings, there is a possibility of a minimum full allotment to every one up to a certain number of shares and allotment above the cut-off limit to be done on a proportionate basis.

Market sources said that one of the major attractions of the share is its high dividend yield, which is around 7.6 per cent for institutional investors. However, it is slightly higher in the case of individual investors, since the offer was at OMR1.350.

Unlike other IPOs, the capital appreciation available for investors in Omantel share offer is known since it is a listed stock. Market sources also said that Omantel's stock liquidity will influence the price on the secondary market, after the allotment.

Several brokerage firms strongly recommended the share offer, which will dilute government's stake in the company to 51 per cent from 70 per cent.

The public offer price of OMR1.350 per share was currently at a discount of 145 baisas to the ex-dividend Omantel share price of OMR1.495 per share yesterday.



Source: http://www.timesofoman.com/News/32472/Article-Oversubscription-seen-in-Omantel%E2%80%99s-public-offer

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