A private placement of shares in state-owned Omantel was oversubscribed 1.988 times, the incumbent telco said in a stock exchange announcement at the weekend.
The move is the first step in the sale process of a 19% stake in the operator by the Omani…
A private placement of shares in state-owned Omantel was oversubscribed 1.988 times, the incumbent telco said in a stock exchange announcement at the weekend.
The move is the first step in the sale process of a 19% stake in the operator by the Omani government.
Investors bid between OR1.5 (US3.90) and OR1.9 (US$4.93) per share. The cut-off price at which the private placement is fully subscribed is OR1.511 (US$3.92).
In February, the Omani government initiated the sale process for the 19% stake in Omantel in two stages.
Saud al Shukaily, secretary general for taxation at the finance ministry and chairman of the supervisory committee overseeing the Omantel sale, told local media that, in the first phase, OR2m (US$5.2m) worth of shares would be sold to Omani individuals and institutional investors. The second stage will see the remaining stock divested in a public offer open to Omani individuals.
The first part is scheduled to close today while the whole process is expected to complete within the next few weeks. It will see the government’s stake in Omantel reduced from 70% to 51%
The pricing has not been disclosed but at the time of going to press (17 March), Omantel had a market capitalisation of OR1.19bn (US$3.09bn), valuing the 19% stake at US$587m.
The state first disclosed plans to offload a stake in September last year. A few weeks later, it mandated Bank Muscat as financial adviser on the process.
Omantel operates fixed and mobile services in Oman. It also owns Worldcall Telecom, which provides wireless local loop, long distance international, payphones and cable television services in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
