BUSINESS REPORTER
Muscat, AUGUST 31
Bank Muscat, the leading financial services provider in the Sultanate of Oman, has successfully advised on the landmark IPO of Oman India Fertiliser Company (OMIFCO), one of Oman's largest industrial enterprises and a leading regional producer of urea and ammonia. Bank Muscat played a pivotal role in the transaction, acting as the sole Issue Manager and Joint Global Coordinator alongside another international bank as well as a collecting bank alongside Meethaq Islamic Banking.
The offering comprised the sale of 1.672 billion shares representing 25% of OMIFCO's total share capital, raising approximately RO 260.9 million (US$678 million). That made the transaction one of the largest public offerings on the Muscat Stock Exchange in recent years and the region's largest IPO of the year 2026 so far amidst heightened geopolitical volatility. OMIFCO’s IPO is the only IPO of scale in GCC year-to-date and notably it received strong participation from marquee institutional investors from across the regional and international markets which is a further testament to the ongoing resurgence of the Sultanate’s capital market.
The subscription period, which ran from 16th–25th of June 2026, generated overwhelming demand from both institutional and retail investors across Oman and internationally. Total subscription c. reached 18 times of the shares on offer, with aggregate subscription of approximately RO 4.7 billion (US$12.2 billion), the highest subscription ever recorded for an IPO on the Muscat Stock Exchange. The institutional tranche alone was covered 27.4 times. Shares were priced at the top of the marketed range and surged more than 20% on first day of its trading debut, reflecting the strength of investor conviction in the offering. The robust performance of the IPO reinstated the confidence of investors in Oman’s capital markets, paving the way for future divestment transactions from OIA which are in the pipeline.
Bank Muscat's Investment Banking team, as the sole Issue Manager and Joint Global Coordinator, played a pivotal role across every stage of the transaction lifecycle, from transaction structuring, stakeholder management, regulatory coordination, close investor engagement, issuance pricing and managing subscriptions and settlements. The Bank worked closely with OMIFCO's shareholders, including OQ SAOC, IFFCO and KRIBHCO, to craft a compelling equity story anchored in OMIFCO's position as the largest fertiliser complex in Oman and among the top five in the GCC, its long- standing offtake relationships, and its strategic relevance to global food security amid shifting trade flows. The Bank also took lead in developing an attractive dividend policy which reflects the robust business profile and provides a compelling investment proposition for the investors. The Bank's transaction structuring expertise, combined with its deep engagement with institutional investors, was instrumental in creating a strong interest amongst institutional investors, consequently achieving a Shari’a-compliant offering that met the highest professional and regulatory standards, maximizing value for selling shareholders while simultaneously provide investors with a high-quality investment option in the industrial sector in the Sultanate. Beyond its role as Issue Manager, Bank Muscat also committed its collective institutional strength across spectrum maximizing subscriptions from institutions and retail investors which is reflected in Bank Muscat together with Meethaq Islamic Banking accounting for a majority of collections for the IPO.
With the successful listing of OMIFCO, in which OQ SAOC held a 50% stake alongside IFFCO and KRIBHCO, Bank Muscat has led three consecutive successful public offerings connected to Oman's OQ Group, having previously served as Issue Manager and Joint Global Coordinator on the landmark OQ Gas Networks (OQGN) IPO in 2023, the largest in the Sultanate's history at the time, and as Issue Manager and Joint Global Coordinator on the OQ Base Industries (OQBI) offering in 2024. Across each of these transactions, Bank Muscat has taken a leading structuring and execution role, consistently translating complex privatization mandates into world-class listings that command deep institutional and retail confidence. This track record cements the Bank's position as the partner of choice for advancement of the Sultanate's privatization programme and capital markets development agenda under Oman Vision 2040. Each successive mandate has allowed Bank Muscat's Investment Banking team to deepen its sector knowledge, refine its distribution reach across investor pools, and build repeatable, best-in-class execution playbooks, capabilities that were on full display in the record-breaking demand generated for OMIFCO.
Commenting on the success of the IPO and Bank Muscat’s contribution, Khalifa Abdullah Al Hatmi, Deputy General Manager of Investment Banking and Capital Markets at Bank Muscat said: “We are proud to have played a central role in what stands as one of the most successful IPOs in the history of the Muscat Stock Exchange. The OMIFCO IPO stands as a testament to the depth of investor confidence in the Sultanate of Oman's capital markets and industrial champions. This marks the third time Bank Muscat has led a successful public offering for the OQ Group in recent times, and each mandate has reinforced our position as the execution ‘partner of choice’. The overwhelming subscription levels we witnessed —18 times, with institutional demand covered 27 times followed by a ‘blockbuster’ listing — are a clear endorsement of the equity story we built around OMIFCO's strategic positioning, and of the rigor and discipline our team brought to every stage of this transaction. The Bank will continue its trajectory of advancing Oman's capital markets agenda, widening the investor base, and creating new investment avenues for individuals and institutions alike, in line with the Sultanate's broader privatization and economic diversification objectives.”
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