Muscat: The offer price of the much-awaited initial public offering (IPO) of Al Maha Ceramics Co has been fixed at 397 baisas. Also, the OMR7.94 million-initial public offering will be floated for public subscription in May.
The board of Al Maha Ceramics, which met on March 27, approved the offer price, which includes two baisas towards issue expenses, the company's parent firm Al Anwar Holding said in a stock market filing. However, the IPO and the price are subject to approval from CMA and other regulatory bodies.
The shareholders of Al Maha are planning to divest 40 per cent of its OMR5 million paid up capital in favour of investing public. The proceeds of the IPO will go to the stakeholders who divest their holding.
Al Anwar shares surged ahead by 8.67 per cent to 376 baisas on the Muscat Securities Market amid 3.9 million shares changing hand.
When contacted, Arvind Bindra, Chief Executive Officer of Al Maha Ceramics, said that the company would be submitting its prospectus for the share offer within ten days. "The issue will be floated in May, subject to the approval of the Capital Market Authority," he added.
The Sohar-based ceramic tiles producer, which has an installed capacity to produce six million square metres of ceramic tiles per annum, is waiting for government approval for additional gas allocation for expanding its capacity to 12 million square metres per annum, he added. The company plans to set up two production lines, each with 3 million square metre capacity. The initial plan is to set up the first production line, which will be followed by the second line at a later stage.
Presently, the company exports its products to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Jordan.
Al Anwar Holding is the majority stakeholder of Al Maha with its 37 per cent holding in the company. Apart from Al Anwar, the major shareholders of Al Maha are Ministry of Defence Pension Fund (10 per cent) and Mustafa Sultan Enterprises (10 per cent).
© Times of Oman 2014
