Bank Sohar shareholders approve floating of OMR100m perpetual bonds
MUSCAT: Bank Sohar held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on August 13, with an attendance rate of 88.7 per cent from the bank’s total shareholders.
The EGM was headed by Abdullah Humaid Al Mamary, chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Sohar, along with shareholders, members of the board and the executive management of Bank Sohar. Also, present during the EGM was an observer from the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the bank’s legal advisor and the bank’s external auditor.
The meeting commenced with Al Mamary welcoming the attendees and thanking all those who put in great efforts to accomplish all the tasks related to the meeting.
He also assured the shareholders that the capital bond to be issued and approved during the EGM would be diverted towards investing in the bank’s business and in developing projects that benefit the Sultanate and all the bank’s shareholders.
During the meeting, Fawziya Hamed Al Busaidi was nominated to be the board secretary of the meeting to record and prepare the minutes of the assembly, which was endorsed by the shareholders as well.
The agenda of the meeting in- cluded approving the issuance of Additional Tier I Capital Instruments amounting to OMR100 million (OMR30 million and OMR70 million as green shoe options). The funds issued will be in the form of perpetual bonds through a private issue with nominal value of OMR 1,000 per bond. The shareholders approved the issuance of these bonds as proposed by the bank in the bulletin that was attached to the meeting’s invitation.
Following approval of the issuance, the chairman discussed the second clause related to authorising the board of directors of the bank to take all necessary action to execute clause No 1, and measures to obtain the necessary approvals from the concerned authorities, which was unanimously agreed upon all the attendees at the EGM.
After the meeting, Al Mamary said the Board’s vision in issuing these bonds is to use its net proceeds to increase the bank’s Tier 1 capital (as per Central Bank of Oman regulations) and to meet the Basel III minimum requirements.
He added that the bank would benefit from the increased liquidity resulting from the issuance of these bonds as it will provide surplus capital for other general trading purposes. These bonds will be issued as private placement for some investors, who will be carefully selected, and will be announced after the Initial Public Offering (IPO).
With regards to the interest rate, the chairman explained that it would range from 7.5 per cent to 7.75 per cent. The price would be determined, based on market conditions and will be paid every six months starting from the date of issuance. He further clari- fied that the price of one bond is OMR1,000.
“On behalf of everyone present, I would like to thank all our shareholders and valued customers for their continuous and loyal support over the last 10 years. Their loyalty has motivated us to fuel investments in continuing to develop products that provide banking excellence,” Sasi Kumar, acting chief executive officer, said.
“We can envisage more investments on the anvil towards developing better products and services now that the EGM has approved the additional Tier one capital. Going forward, our focus will be to redefine consumer banking by continuing to lead in innovation and excellence,” he added.
The bank’s dedication towards excellence is evident in the awards it has received, locally, regionally and internationally, over these past 10 years.