Oman’s OQ Exploration and Production (OQEP) has revealed it will offer 2 billion shares at a price ranging between OMR 0.37 ($0.96) and OMR 0.39 ($1.01) per share, in its initial public offering (IPO).
The wholly state-owned company announced earlier this month it plans to offer 25% of its shares in an IPO on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSE). The offering is set to raise up to OMR 780 million ($2.03 billion).
OQ is part of the OQ Group, currently under the management of the Oman Investment Authority (OIA). It is one of the top three oil and gas producers in the Sultanate, having increased its average daily production nearly 14-fold by 2023.
The offering will be in two tranches, one for eligible investors in Oman and a second for qualified institutional and other investors in several countries. The category I investors represent 60% of the total offering. Category II, or the retail tranche, will represent 40% of the total offering for retail investors in Oman.
Six anchor Investors – Al-Hosn Investment Company SAOC, Bank Dhofar SAOG, Mars Development and Investment LLC, Oman National Investments Development Company SAOC, Salim & Partners LLC, and Social Protection Fund – have committed to subscribe for an aggregate of 20% of the IPO at the final subscription price.
The subscription periods open on September 30, with the category I offer closing on October 10 and the category II offer closing on October 9.
The company is set to start trading on MSE by October 28.
