Oman's Asyad Plans to Float Asyad Shipping, Sources Say

Oman's state-owned logistics firm Asyad Group is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary Asyad Shipping Co by the end of the year and has selected Jefferies Group and EFG Hermes as advisers, sources familiar with the matter said.

Asyad Group, EFG Hermes and Jefferies declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Thursday about the IPO plans. Details on the size of the offering were not immediately available.

Asyad Shipping focuses on transporting LNG to the international market, with a fleet that includes very large crude carriers, product and chemical tankers, and dry bulk carriers.

It lists Brazilian miner Vale and energy firms BP and Shell among its customers and partners.

Asyad Group, owned by Oman's wealth fund, has more than $4 billion of assets, focuses on logistics, transportation, port services, shipping and free zones.

Oman Investment Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Oman, a small non-OPEC producer, is following its neighbours the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in pushing state-led listing programmes in a bid to advance privatisation strategies.

That strategy, along with wide reforms that include fiscal discipline, has helped Oman pay down debt and turn its large fiscal deficit of recent years into a surplus since 2022.

The reforms and a shake-up of state entities are being driven by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, who took the throne in early 2020 after the death of Sultan Qaboos, who ruled for nearly five decades.

Ratings agency Moody's raised Oman's credit rating from Ba2 to Ba1 in December, one level below investment grade, which was attributed to improvements in debt affordability metrics.

Oman has been pitching to upgrade its classification to 'emerging market' from its frontier market status, which would put it on the radar of global asset managers and bring in foreign investment through passive funds.

Oman and Bahrain are the only countries within the six- member Gulf Cooperation Council that are not classified as an emerging market by index provider MSCI.

Reuters reported in 2021 that Asyad was weighing the sale of a strategic stake in its subsidiary Oman Shipping, which was re-branded as Asyad Shipping in 2022.

Asyad had asked banks to pitch for a mandate to help it review a potential deal in which Asyad could divest up to 40% of its ownership, Reuters reported at the time.

(Reuters - Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh and Federico Maccioni in Dubai; Additional reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr in Frankfurt; Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Alexander Smith)