MUSCAT: Renaissance group has priced a dual-currency subordinated perpetual bond issuance for an aggregate issue size of $125 million, which was raised through a wholly-owned overseas subsidiary of Renaissance Services.
The proceeds will be used to finance the repurchase of Renaissance’s mandatory convertible bonds, the company said in a stock market filing.
“The bond was priced with a coupon of 7.90 per cent and the issue was placed on a private offering basis. The bond will be listed on the Irish Stock Exchange,” noted the statement.
The issuance marks many firsts, including the first ever perpetual equity-eligible corporate bond from an Oman headquartered business group, the first ever dual-currency bond (with US dollar and Omani rial tranches) from the GCC and the first ever international bond by a MSM listed Omani corporate entity.
The notes were particularly well received by Omani investors and achieved balanced investor distribution profile, comprising banks, pension funds, government entities, family offices and private banking demand.
“We are extremely pleased with the success of this transaction which marks an important milestone in Renaissance’s history,” said Samir J Fancy, chairman of Renaissance.
Vishal Goenka, group chief financial officer of the company commented that “the remarkable support provided by Omani investors was a testament to their confidence in our credit and trust in our business model and strategy. In addition, we are happy to have played a role in the development of Oman’s debt capital markets and are honoured to be the first corporate issuer to raise debt in an equity-eligible manner.”
Standard Chartered Bank acted as sole structuring advisor, and National Bank of Oman, Bank Sohar, and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint lead managers. Alpen Capital, Oman acted as financial adviser to Renaissance.
