2023-11-26
OIA Reaps the fruits of its Exiting Plan OQ’s CEO: IPOs Reflected Investors’ Trust in Our Assets
As part of its efforts towards empowering the private sector, attracting foreign investments in line with Oman Vision 2040, and creating an environment that supports economic diversification, enhances cooperation with international companies and stimulates growth of companies, OIA’s exiting plan continues to make good outcomes that align with OIA’s strategic vision.
In an interview published in the new edition of OIA Quarterly Newsletter “Enjaz and Eejaz”, Talal Al Awfi, group CEO of OQ, said: “IPOs in Abraj Energy Services and OQGN this year contributed effectively to capitalizing individual savings in investments that both generate profits for individuals and provide Muscat Stock Exchange with large investments in the energy sector, which in turn promotes community partnership.
Al Awfi affirmed that these public offerings made great successes reflecting investors’ trust in OIA investments and financial management. For instance, OQGN IPO was oversubscribed nearly 14 times while shares of Abraj Energy Services were oversubscribed nearly 7.8 times. In addition, key investors and a large number of local investors took part in the subscription. He added that OQ Group will use the returns of these IPOs for expanding its operations and maximizing them on the long term through re-utilizing the additional capital in a strategic manner with the aim of enhancing growth and accelerating repayment of existing investment loans.
Al Awfi explained that the Group has established a special unit for managing IPOs and conducting detailed studies for OQ companies, including the possibility of issuing them for public offering where all decisions relating to any new public offerings are to be made in coordination with OIA and OQ’s board.
Speaking about OQ’s debts, Al Awfi indicated that the value of the Group’s assets is + USD 31 billion as at 2022, reflecting the extraordinary annual profits made by the Group, the efficiency of its debt management, its financial stability and steadfast commitment to create sustainable value. He explained that the Group’s debts, like any other company in the energy sector, are in the form of investment loans for growth projects, adding that these loans enabled the company to maximize the value of the Sultanate’s natural resources and enhance their returns.
In the issue’s editorial, which was published in conjunction with the glorious fifty-third National Day, H.E. Abdulsalam Bin Mohamed Al Murshidi, OIA’s President, said that over this year OIA made several achievements that contributed to maximizing and developing investments, making profits, reducing companies’ debt, and raising the credit rating of some of them, including the completion of six national projects, and the launch of the Oman Future Fund, under directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, may Allah protect and preserve him. The Fund is expected to start to offer its services to beneficiaries over the coming period.
The new issue of “Injaz and Ejaz” published an interview with Eng. Haitham Balushi, Geophysics Manager at Mineral Development of Oman, one of OIA companies, in which he talked about his unique specialization and his career that qualified him for a number of opportunities to work for large mining projects in different countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tanzania, and Rwanda. The issue also included a report on the Fatah Al-Khair Center in the Wilayat of Sur in the South Al Sharqiyah Governorate, which was established in collaboration with the Oman LNG Company and contains 400 different pieces that commemorate the Omani maritime history, in addition to a report on the issuance of the Guidelines for Research, Development and Innovation and linking their objectives with the operations of OIA companies through a framework that includes the “Business Technology Planning” methodology, which contributes to identifying the challenges and opportunities facing businesses within companies, as well as several interviews, news, and reports.