OAB completes first locally listed Omani Rial Perpetual Bonds issue
Dec 28: Oman Arab Bank successfully concluded its issue of Omani Rial denominated Perpetual Bonds, raising RO 30 million as Additional Tier 1 capital. The issue will boost the bank’s capital base and increase its capital adequacy ratio. The Investment Management Group of OAB (OAB-IMG) managed the issue of this private placement.
OAB-IMG structured the instrument as an Omani Rial denominated bond to be listed locally on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM), making it the first such bond issue in the Sultanate of Oman.
The private placement received excellent response from investors who included pension and investment funds, companies and individuals.
This prompted the bank to increase the issue size from the originally contemplated level of RO 25 million to RO 30 million to accommodate the remarkable demand.
OAB-IMG successfully completed the subscription to the placement which closed on December 27, 2016, to be followed by the listing of the bonds on the MSM.
Amin al Husseini, CEO of Oman Arab Bank said, “We appreciate the role of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) for their guidance and support to complete this pioneering fund raising transaction.
We also value and highly appreciate the support and encouragement received from the Capital Market Authority (CMA) who played a very constructive and facilitative role in ensuring that the bond issue was completed within the overall regulatory framework and within the deadline.”
Lo’ai al Bataineh, Chief Investment Officer and Head of OAB-IMG said, “This bond issue marks the last major assignment for OAB-IMG as the investment banking division within Oman Arab Bank. OAB-IMG is being spin-off as an independent full-fledged investment banking company called Ubhar Capital SAOC (U-Capital) which I will be privileged to manage from January 2017.”
U-Capital’s promoters are Oman Investment Fund, Oman International Development and Investment Company (OMINVEST) and Arab Bank (Switzerland). U-Capital will take over the investment banking business of OAB-IMG and will focus on building a world-class institution catering to a broad base of local, regional and international customers.
Oman Arab Bank and U-Capital will be signing a bilateral partnership and alliance agreement offering their customers unparalleled services and a wider range of products.