MUSCAT, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Oman's Ministry of Finance said on Sunday it would open subscriptions for the sultanate's first issue of sovereign sukuk on Thursday and close them on Oct. 22.

The rial-denominated issue will have a tenor of five years, with its profit rate set through a uniform price auction, the ministry said in an emailed statement.

The issue will be open to sophisticated investors - usually taken to mean fund managers, banks and other institutions, as well as wealthy individuals - with a minimum subscription of 500,000 rials ($1.3 million), the ministry added.

Its size will be decided on completion of a book-building exercise. Previously, Omani officials had said they expected the issue to be 200 million rials.

Bank Muscat BMAO.OM , its Islamic window Meethaq and Standard Chartered STAN.L are lead-managing the sale.

(Reporting by Fatma Alarimi, Writing by Andrew Torchia, Editing by David French) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com; +9715 6681 7277; Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: OMAN BONDS/