OQ Exploration and Production Company (OQEP), Oman’s wholly-state-owned upstream oil and gas operator, has raised $2.03 billion from its IPO which was the largest ever for the Gulf oil nation and the biggest in the region so far this year.
OQEP, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of OQ, the Sultanate of Oman’s energy company, sold 2 billion shares in the IPO during the subscription period, representing 25% of OQEP’s total issued share capital.
On Thursday, Oman’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that it had approved the results of allocation for the largest offering in the history of the Omani capital market.
The offering was 2.4 times oversubscribed with orders amounting to about $4.7 billion (1.814 billion Omani rials), the authority said.
The oversubscribed IPO “reflects the confidence of local and foreign investors in the issuer company and the Omani capital market in addition to the attractiveness of the national economy in general,” said the regulator, adding that the offering is considered the largest in the history of the Omani capital market.
Major anchor investors were allocated 20% of the 2 billion shares on offer, local and foreign institutional investors received 40% of the shares up for sale, and retail investors in Oman – the remaining 40%, FSA said.
The offering that raised $2 billion from 25% of OQEP’s shares values Oman’s oil and gas exploration firm at up to $8.1 billion (3.12 billion rials).
Last month, OQEP said it expects its shares to commence trading on the local MSX stock exchange on or around 28 October 2024, under the trading symbol ‘OQEP’.
The IPO of the exploration firm follows the successful listings of Abraj Energy Services and OQ Gas Networks last year.
Oman’s drilling and well services provider Abraj Energy Services, indirectly owned by OQ, was listed last year after an IPO raised $244 million (94 million rials). Pipeline operator OQ Gas Networks also debuted on the local stock market after raising $771 million in an IPO that sold out in one day.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
