BankMuscat, the first company from the Sultanate of Oman to list in London, began unconditional trading today. Investcom, an international provider of mobile telecommunications services based in the Lebanon, is expected to commence conditional trading on the 6 October, with unconditional trading due to begin on the 11 October.
Martin Graham, the Exchange’s Director of Market Services said:
“We are delighted to welcome BankMuscat and Investcom to the Main Market. These listings demonstrate that world-class companies from the Middle East can use a London listing to access deep pools of international capital, and take their place amongst a truly global peer group. As the world’s most internationally-focussed equities exchange, we look forward to more companies from this vibrant region joining our markets in the near future.”
BankMuscat raised a total of US$163 million by listing 6,878,765 Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), with each GDR representing one underlying share.
Investcom propose to list 59,995,428 GDRs at price range of US$10.35 to US$12.35 per GDR. An additional number of GDRs of up to 15 per cent of the offer size and, consistent with market practice, will be made available if the over-allotment option is fully exercised. The final pricing of the shares is scheduled to take place at the close of business today.
In 2004, the London Stock Exchange attracted a total of 293 IPOs to the Main Market and AIM, accounting for 79 per cent of all IPOs in Western Europe. In the calendar year to the end of September 2005, a total of 69 companies have joined the Main Market raising a total of US$11.2 billion between them. In 2004, a total of 68 companies joined the Main Market raising a total of US$9.2 billion between them.
Citigroup acted as global co-ordinator for Bank Muscat and Investcom. It acted as sole bookrunner for BankMuscat and as joint bookrunners with HSBC for Investcom.
