Oman plans to take 30 companies public over the next five years
Interior of the departure terminal at Muscat International Airport, Oman. The OIA invited investors two weeks ago to look for opportunities in the mining sector and is also planning the same for the fisheries sector.
Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, the Oman Investment Authority, is considering investing in the UK’s technology sector to take advantage of valuations hit by rising interest rates and falling sterling, it said. said an OIA executive on Wednesday.
Ibrahim Al Eisri, managing director of private equity at OIA, told Reuters the wealth fund was looking for unlisted UK technology companies and scaling them up.
The UK economy is experiencing a cost of living crisis as Rushi Sunak became its third prime minister in two months on Tuesday.
“We are looking at some deals right now, given that the market offers an opportunity to get in right now,” he said on the sidelines of FII, Saudi Arabia’s flagship annual investment conference.
Al Eisri said now was the best time to monetize assets compared to two years ago amid the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that OIA had exited four investments outside Oman last year.
The region’s oil giants, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and Abu Dhabi’s Adnoc, have in recent years raised tens of billions of dollars through IPOs, including those of Aramco and various subsidiaries and companies Adnoc joint ventures, in addition to selling stakes in its gas pipeline infrastructure.
Oman plans to take 30 companies public over the next five years, he said.
The Gulf is enjoying an IPO boom at the moment, with the governments of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai pushing for state-led listings to make their equity markets more competitive.
Issuers in the region have raised more than $15 billion from IPOs in the year to mid-October, according to data from Refinitiv. The data showed its first-half earnings outperformed European shares, even as global markets remained volatile due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He added that the OIA invited investors two weeks ago to look for opportunities in the mining sector and is also planning the same for the fisheries sector.
The fund focuses on alternative energy technology, logistics and messenger RNA technology used in some Covid-19 vaccines. He added that the OIA is close to investing in a port in Zanzibar.
