02/11/2010 00:00 AST
Nawras yesterday celebrated its first day of trading on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) under the ticker symbol, ‘nwrs’.
The first day of trading follows the successful completion of the Nawras IPO, which raised a total of RO 182 million (over $472 million). Based on the listing price of RO 0.702 the initial market capitalisation of Nawras was RO 456 million ($1.18 billion), positioning Nawras as a top five Omani company by market capitalisation. At the end of the first day of trading shares closed at RO 0.740 per share, following 8,413,003 shares traded, increasing the company‘s market capitalisation to RO 480.6 million (over $1.2 billion).
An event was held at the MSM this morning under the auspices of Yahya bin Said al Jabri, Executive President of the CMA, Ahmed Saleh al Marhoon, Director-General of the MSM, and Suleiman Mohammed al Rashidi, Deputy Director-General Operations and Marketing Surveillance at the MSM. The event congratulated all parties involved in the completion of the biggest IPO in Oman since 2005, and the second largest of all time in the Sultanate. The IPO is the largest to take place in the GCC since July 2009.
The IPO was also the first ever offer in Oman to be completed using the book-build method which determined the share price of the offering based on actual demand from institutional investors.
In a speech to all who attended the event, Ross Cormack, Chief Executive Officer of Nawras, said: “Being a top five listed company in Oman is an enormous achievement in only five years.
One of the aims of offering Nawras stock was to give the Omani public and other investors the chance to participate in the future successes of our company. We are delighted to be here today to welcome this new set of retail and institutional shareholders to the Nawras family.
“Of course, none of this would be possible without the support and dedication of a great number of people. To our customers, whose loyalty we aim to reward every day through the provision of the best in telecommunications services. To our employees, whose commitment and dedication to providing the best to our customers is never taken for granted. To the TRA, the CMA and the MSM for their high level of support throughout the IPO process.
To our advisers, old and new, who have helped guide us through this process — AMJ, BankMuscat, Trowers & Hamlins, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Morgan Stanley and QNB-I thank you all.”
The successful completion of the IPO underlines the enthusiasm the investment community shares for the Nawras story and for the company’s future. Commenting on the outlook for Nawras, Ross Cormack continued:
“Looking ahead, we aim to deliver future value to our shareholders — old and new — by capitalising on the dynamic and exciting Omani telecommunications market. We aim to do this through growing mobile revenues faster than the market, developing new revenue streams in our mobile, fixed line and broadband services, and by remaining a lean and efficient operator.”
Oman Daily Observer
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