Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran), the government’s tourism investment and development arm, is weighing plans to set up a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) designed to enable local and international investors to invest in its expanding portfolio of hospitality assets.
Omran Chief Executive Officer Peter Walichnowski made the revelation in a presentation on the second day of the Oman Economic Forum, which concluded at the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre yesterday.
The presentation was part of a panel discussion on the real estate sector that also featured Mohammed Said al Abri, Vice President of the Capital Market Sector — Capital Market Authority (CMA); Saeed al Rashdi, Board Member — Oman Real Estate Association; and Nasser al Shibly, General-Manager — Oman Real Estate Investment Services. Lo’ai al Bataineh, CEO — U-Capital, moderated the session.
“We are exploring funds management at the moment — which is how to take (Omran’s) hotel assets and securitise them and put them into an investment vehicle to allow the public and investors to participate in the hospitality portfolio,” said Walichnowski.
“One of the options we are investigating is a possible REIT structure, which was recently introduced to Oman. We are looking at the benefits of placing some or all of the hotels into a hospitality REIT, which will be the biggest in Oman and possibly one of the biggest in the region. This should be able to draw local and international investor interest,” he stated.
Omran is already the largest owner of hotels and other hospitality assets in the Sultanate with a portfolio featuring as many as nine internationally branded hotels that are currently in operation. In addition, the state-owned holding company also owns seven smaller hotels operating under Omran’s own hospitality brand ‘Atana’. These are located in the different governorates of the Sultanate. The two sets of brands account for more than 2,400 keys in operation, while new capacity offering a further 1,000 keys is in various stages of design and development.
In addition, Omran has partnerships with international developers in six Integrated Tourism Complexes (ITC) currently in design and operation around the Sultanate. Covering a combined area of several millions of sq metres, typically on the beachfront, these complexes have around 4,000 keys of room capacity under development, in addition to 10,000 residential units. Total investment in these ITCs to date is around RO 160 million, said Walichnowski.
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