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AMJ acted as sole legal counsel to the Government of Oman (as obligor), Oman Sovereign Sukuk Company S.A.O.C. (as issuer) and bank muscat S.A.O.G. and its Islamic window, Meethaq Islamic Banking, (as issue manager and lead manager) on the update of the Government of Oman’s Omani Rial unlimited value sukuk issuance programme and the issuance of sukuk aggregating R.O. 200 million (US$519 million). This transaction involved the issuance of a third tranche of sukuk under the Government of Oman’s local sukuk issuance programme which followed the establishment of the programme and the issuance of the first two tranches of sukuk in late 2019 on which AMJ had also advised as sole Oman law counsel.

The issuance was undertaken in a single tranche of R.O. 200,000,000 sukuk with a tenure of six years and a profit rate of 5.25 per cent. per annum. The issuance closed on 21 September 2020 and was listed on the Muscat Securities Market.

In addition to the issuance being undertaken through the novel auction process and allocations having been made through a ‘differential pricing mechanism’, this was the first time that collecting banks with respect to the issuance were appointed by the Central Bank of Oman through a circular issued to all licenced Omani banks. AMJ, as part of its mandate, advised on the collecting banks’ appointment process and all transaction and structuring documents and liaised with the Capital Market Authority to finalise and obtain approvals for the update to the sukuk programme and the issuance of sukuk thereunder.

The AMJ team, which acted as sole legal advisor on this transaction, was led by Mansoor Malik (Senior Partner) and Asad Qayyum (Partner) who were supported by Hussein Azmy (Associate) and Fatma Al Maamary (Associate).