Tuesday 08 / October / 2024
Muscat: The public subscription to OQ Exploration and Production company’s (OQEP) shares for “Individuals” will close on Wednesday 9 October 2024.
Estimated at 800 million, the “Individuals Category” stands for 40 percent of the overall volume of OQ shares offered for subscription (a total of 2 billion shares).
The subscription period for the “Institutions Category” will close on Thursday 10 October 2024. Estimated at 800 million shares, this category accounts for 40 percent of the company’s shares offered for subscription. Parties in the “Major Investors Category” subscribed to 20 percent of the offered shares. This category comprises 400 million shares.
Subscription to OQEP shares (a total of two billion) constitutes the largest of IPO of its kind in the Sultanate of Oman and in the region this year (2024).
It stands for 25 percent of the capital of the company, which is owned by OQ Group.
Haitham Salim Al Salmi, CEO of Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX), said that OQEP’s entry into MSX will constitute a major leap in the stock market’s upgrade project.
He described the company’s listing on the stock exchange as “a historic day” and that it will enhance its position as an attractive investment destination.
He added in a statement to the Oman News Agency (ONA) that the market value of OQ Exploration and Production Company, after its listing, will amount to more than OMR3 billion, representing about 11.6 percent of the total market value of the companies listed on the stock exchange.
MSX exerted worked hard to get upgraded to the category of “nascent stock”, according to the classification endorsed by global rating agencies and to the rating of institutions that set precise criteria for classifying stock exchanges like liquidity and trading volumes for listed companies.
Al Salmi stressed that the MSX has been keen to provide an attractive investment environment that would boost its growth in the near future.
The start of 2024 saw the the actual launch of market making activity, said Al Salmi, noting that MSX would officially announce the “Margin Financing Activity” and the “Securities Lending and Borrowing Activity” in cooperation with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Muscat Clearing and Depository Company (MCD). -ONA
