Oman approves Asyad Shipping secondary offering, 335 million shares allocated

Summary

• Oman's Financial Services Authority approved allocation results for Asyad Shipping's secondary share offering.
• The deal covers 335,312,913 shares, 6.44% of issued capital, priced at 195 baisa each.
• Retail demand ran roughly 3 times cover, pushing regulators to enlarge the individual tranche by 15%.

The latest

Oman's Financial Services Authority has signed off on the allocation results for Asyad Shipping's secondary offering, clearing the way for 335,312,913 shares to move toward listing on the Muscat Stock Exchange. The enlarged offering represents 6.44% of the company's issued capital at 195 baisa per share. The approval follows oversubscription in the retail tranche that prompted an upsizing.

Details

• The size: The total offering after upsizing reached 335,312,913 shares, equal to 6.44% of Asyad Shipping's issued capital, the authority said. The offer price was fixed at 195 baisa per share across both tranches of the transaction.
• Institutional tranche: The first phase covered 260,437,214 shares, or 5% of issued capital, allocated to selected institutional investors through a private placement. According to the authority, that placement was executed via an accelerated bookbuilding process.
• Retail demand: Individual investors applied for 194,293,900 shares, with total payments of 37,887,310.5 Omani rials submitted through 11,205 subscription applications. That demand represented coverage of about 3 times the retail tranche as originally sized, before the regulator enlarged it.
• The upsizing: Citing the level of demand, the authority increased the retail allocation by 15%, from 65,109,304 shares — about 1.25% of capital — to 74,875,699 shares, or roughly 1.44% of capital. Coverage after the increase settled at about 2.6 times.
• Small investors: Each subscriber in the small individual investor category was allocated a minimum of 4,000 shares. Remaining shares are to be distributed pro rata at about 19.4% of the balance of shares applied for after the initial allocation, according to the authority.
• Large investors: The large individual investor category received an allocation ratio of about 30.8% of the total shares they applied for, the authority said, a materially different outcome from the floor-plus-proration formula applied to the smaller retail subscribers.
• Next steps: Approval of the allocation results precedes completion of subscriber procedures and the listing itself, to be handled in coordination with Muscat Clearing and Depository Company and the Muscat Stock Exchange. The authority did not set a listing date.

Background

Asyad Shipping is the maritime transport arm within Oman's state-linked Asyad group. The secondary offering sells existing shares rather than issuing new capital, meaning proceeds flow to the selling shareholder rather than the company itself.

Between the lines

The gap between the two retail categories is the detail worth reading. Small subscribers were guaranteed a 4,000-share floor before any proration, while large individual applicants were cut back to roughly 30.8% of what they sought — an allocation design that spreads ownership wider rather than concentrating it. The 15% upsizing, triggered by 3 times cover, still left the book oversubscribed at 2.6 times.

What's next

Watch for completion of subscriber procedures with Muscat Clearing and Depository Company, and the first day of trading on the Muscat Stock Exchange, where the 195 baisa offer price becomes the reference point for pricing.

Source: Oman News Agency (ONA)