During 2015, Muscat Securities Muscat (MSM) witnessed 58 initial public offerings, some of them are new IPOs and others are capital increments through stock dividend or private placement or preferential shares.
The value of the new listings stood at RO1.314 billion distributed onto joint stock companies, closed joint stock companies, funds, securities and sukuk market.
The value of the listings of the joint stock companies stood at RO277.6 million, the most notable of which is Phoenix Energy with a capital of RO146.2 million. The company offered 35% of its capital for public subscription. More than 44,000 transactions worth of RO74.5 million were made on share during the period from June 22^nd till the end of December 2015. The share, whose value ranged between 160 Baises to 141 Baises closed at 144 Baises; an increase by 34 Biases compared to 110 Baises, the offer price.
The market value of the company at the end of December 2015 stood at RO210.6 million. The company manages Sur power plant, the biggest independent power plant in the Sultanate. The company, which cost RO632.5 million, started commercial operation in December 2014 with production capacity of 2000 megawatts.
During 2015, 25 joint stock companies increased their capitals by providing shareholders with stock dividends or through private placement and preferential rights. The new shares from convertible bonds of Renaissance Services and Oman Finance Services were listed at MSM and added new depth to the market and brought many benefits to shareholders.
During the same year, the capitalization of the joint stock companies increased by RO131.3 million, of which the banks increased their capitals by about RO86 million.
The securities and sukuk market has witnessed a remarkable shift after changing the name of the market from securities to securities and sukuk market and listing the first sovereign sukuk of the Sultanate, worth RO250 million, at the market.
The 46th and 47th issues of the government development bonds , worth of RO200 million and RO300 respectively, were listed at the market alongside with convertible bonds worth of RO32.4 million by Bank Muscat and RO1.8 worth securities by Oman Financial Services Company. The value of the new listings at the securities and sukuk market thus crossed RO784.2 million.
Seven new closed joint stock companies were listed at MSM in 2015 namely Canadian Innovation Company for Education Services S.A.O.C, Musandam Power S.A.O.C , Duqm Renaissance Holding S.A.O.C, Renaissance Utility Management S.A.O.C, Quriyat Desalination S.A.O.C, Yiti Tourism Development S.A.O.C and Oman and Brunei Asset Management S.A.O.C. 16 additional companies also increased their capitals. The value of the listing of the closed joint stock companies stood at RO235.1 million.
NIFCO Fund for Gulf shares, with a capital of 25 million unit , was also listed at the market at $1 per each unit. Majan, Al Kawthar and Oman Developments Funds also increased their capitals through free units and preferential rights.
The new listings maintained the MSM capitalization at RO15.778 billion as of the end of December 2015 ; a growth by 8.3% compared to the end of 2014 (RO14.564 billion), despite the decline witnessed by share prices due to the slump in oil prices, the slow economic growth and poor performance of Gulf stock markets.