Trowers & Hamlins has advised on the second series under Sultanate of Oman’s first Sukuk Programme established by Meethaq Islamic Banking, bank muscat S.A.O.G.
This is the second series under the OMR 100,000,000 (USD 260,080,000) Sukuk Al Musharaka Certificate Issuance Programme (Programme) established by Meethaq Islamic Banking, bank muscat S.A.O.G. (Meethaq) in 2017.
Trowers & Hamlins advised as transaction counsel on the successful completion of Series 2, issued by Meethaq Sukuk Company LLC, an Oman limited liability company, under the Programme by way of public offering of 45,596,700 certificates (including 20,596,700 certificates issued pursuant to a partially exercised over-allotment/greenshoe option following very high demand for the Series 2 certificates) at a public offering price of OMR 1 per certificate, resulting in gross proceeds to Meethaq of OMR45,687,893 (including offer expenses of baisa 2 per certificate). OMR 1 is divided into 1000 baisa.
The public offer closed on 15 May 2019 and the certificates were admitted to trading by the Muscat Securities Market on the Bonds and Sukuk Market.
Series 2 will mature on 22 May 2024 and carries a profit rate of 5.5% per annum. Al Madina Investment Co. S.A.O.G. acted as the issue manager to Series 2.
Trowers & Hamlins also advised on the establishment of the Programme and on the successful completion of Series 1 and continues to be Meethaq's on-going counsel of choice on Sukuk matters.
Salman Ahmed, head of Islamic Finance commented: “We are delighted to have worked with the Meethaq team on another successful Sukuk transaction and look forward to collaborating further with them."
Tom Wigley partner and head of the Oman office said:
"We are very proud to represent our long-standing client, Meethaq, on another landmark transaction. This is a rare issue of retail Sukuk, which is not a common type of issuance in the GCC. This transaction demonstrates our strength and capabilities in Islamic finance and particularly, our on-the-ground expertise in Sukuk issuances. The ability of Meethaq to issue a 5-year Sukuk at a rate lower than 6% and the exercise of the over-allotment/greenshoe option demonstrates strong investor confidence in the Oman economy."
The Trowers & Hamlins team was led by partners Salman Ahmed, Elias Moubarak and Jamie Gibson, assisted by associates Lydia Clatworthy and Nicol Ong and trainee Alshaima Alhinai.
