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AMJ has acted as sole legal advisor to Barka Desalination Company SAOG, (“BDC”), and its shareholders, I-Environment Investments Middle East Limited, (a subsidiary of ITOCHU Corporation), Kahrabel FZE, (a subsidiary of International Power S.A.), Suez Groupe S.A.S., and W.J. Towell & Co. LLC, on the successful US$11 Million initial public offering of 40% of the issued share capital of BDC.

BDC is the owner of the largest desalination plant in Oman, with a capacity of 281,000 m2 of water per day, which represents almost 23% of the total demand for water in Oman as per OPWP’s 7-year statement (2019-2025) and as such is viewed as a key strategic infrastructure company for the Sultanate.

AMJ’s Corporate and Capital Markets team advised BDC on the restructuring of the shareholder loans provided by the promoters, the IPO as well as on its conversion to a joint stock company and listing on the Muscat Stock Exchange which was successfully concluded on 27 February 2022. The team assisted BDC in securing key consents and approvals for the public offering from a range of regulatory bodies and led in the drafting and preparation of the offering prospectus to ensure all stakeholder and regulatory requirements were satisfied.

Phoenix Power was awarded a 20-year agreement to build-own-operate the desalination plant located in Barka in 2016 and has a contract with the government to supply desalinated water until April 2038. The plant has been in full commercial operation since June 2018.

The BDC IPO was undertaken by way of a book-building process becoming only the second IPO to use such a process in the Sultanate, with the only other example being the Musandam Power IPO in December 2019 on which AMJ also advised.

The AMJ team was led by senior partner Mansoor Malik assisted by partner, Ardeshir Patel and senior associates, Robert Booth, Armughan Ashfaq and associate Shadha Al Kharusi.