Nawras prices IPO at bottom of range

Oman’s second national telecoms operator, Omani-Qatari Telecommunications Company (Nawras), has announced its initial public offering (IPO) will be priced at OMR0.702 (USD1.82) per share, raising OMR182 million, AME Info reports. The shares have been priced at the bottom of its OMR0.702-OMR0.902 range. Nawras, which on Sunday said the IPO was fully subscribed, had extended the period for the share sale by one week to 21 October amid weak retail demand, while its bourse listing is now scheduled to take place on 3 November instead of 27 October as originally planned. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Nawras agreed to float 40% of its shares in February 2010, as required under the terms of its licence, but the government granted the operator an extension to September. The company, which was founded in 2004 by a consortium comprising Qatar incumbent Qtel (which owns a 55% stake in the company), Danish counterpart TDC (15%) and a number of Omani investors (30%), is offering 260 million shares in Oman’s first IPO in two years.