State-owned firms plan to raise fund from abroad

Muscat: Several state-owned companies and private firms in Oman are planning to raise funds from Several state-owned companies and private firms in Oman are planning to raise funds from overseas market this year. This is a diverse pool of fresh liquidity, which helps ease pressure within the domestic financial market.
“A lot of government-related companies and corporates are in dialogue with us and many other banks to look at structured finance,” Hussain Ghalib Al Yafai, head, corporate and international clients and head of financial markets, Standard Chartered Bank, told ‘Times of Oman’.
Standard Chartered Bank was involved in arranging $7 billion worth of funding for government and private entities so far this year.
This year is a record year in terms of raising funds. Government, government-related entities, oil and gas firms and financial institutions have raised funds from international markets. These institutions are looking at structured financing and international capital market, unlike the day-today conventional borrowing.
Al Yafai said that the trend among Oman’s government related entities to tap international market for their fund requirement is a natural progression of the market. “That is why the markets are becoming more matured. The natural progression gets accelerated when there is a dearth of local liquidity.”
When the companies tap the bond, sukuk or syndicated loan market, it offers a different pool of liquidity. It supports the local economy since the liquidity that comes to the country is fresh and it supports growth.
Al Yafai said that his bank has closed several landmark transactions recently. Standard Chartered Bank was an arranger of $1 billion syndicated facility for the Ministry of Finance, which was raised in December last year.
Thereafter, the bank also acted as a lead arranger of a $500 million bond issue for Bank Muscat, besides lead arranging a $300 million syndicated loan facility for the bank. “Six major banks supported the client (Bank Muscat),” he added.
Standard Chartered Bank also acted as the structuring bank and a lead arranger for a $244 million project financing for Qurayyat IWP. Standard Chartered Bank was also one of the mandated lead arrangers of a $4 billion oil-backed facility for Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).
The bank was the structuring bank and lead arranger for a $75 million sukuk issue for MB Holding, which was the first sukuk issue after announcing the new regulation.