MUSCAT -- Nawras, the Sultanate of Oman's fast growing, customer-friendly communications provider, has begun the countdown to the close of its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The IPO, which has seen strong interest from investors across the Sultanate, the GCC and from Europe, closes for subscription on October 14, 2010. Higher than expected interest from retail investors across the Sultanate has led to an additional 200,000 IPO application forms being printed and distributed to branches of BankMuscat, National Bank of Oman, Oman Arab Bank and Ahli Bank. This is in addition to the 300,000 forms that had been printed for the opening of the IPO.
The IPO has also received QFMA approval for a retail offering in Qatar and 100,000 forms have been sent to Qatar National Bank which is the receiving bank in Qatar to meet the investor demand in Qatar Commenting at the beginning of the final week of Offering, Ross Cormack, the Chief Executive Officer of Nawras, said: "I've been delighted by the interest we've seen in the Nawras story and in our IPO. We have had a very exciting three weeks so far where we have met hundreds of investors - both retail and institutional - who are looking forward to joining the Nawras family. As we enter the final week of the offer, we are seeing more orders coming in for shares than we had expected from the outset.
"One of the areas of interest for investors is the bookbuild process and how this can benefit them. There is recognition of the fact that we have introduced this process in Oman as a Nawras First to ensure that investors help to determine the final price, and that the price is intended to be set at a fair level that takes into account their views and the stability of the price once the shares have listed." Investors wishing to join the Nawras family have until October 14 to complete the application process which they can do at their local branch of Bank Muscat, National Bank of Oman, Oman Arab Bank or Ahli Bank.
The prospectus, which investors are recommended to review in detail before submitting an application form, is available to download from the Nawras IPO web site - www.nawras-ipo.com -- or from the web site of the Capital Markets Authority -- www.cma.gov.om. BankMuscat is the Sole Issue Manager for the IPO. Morgan Stanley, BankMuscat and QNB are Joint Lead Managers to the IPO, and Morgan Stanley and BankMuscat are the Joint Bookrunners.
By A Staff Reporter
© Oman Daily Observer 2010
