Oman

A juicy Middle Eastern project finance loan — for Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) — will be signed by end of next week, according to a banker close to the deal.

Oman Telecoms (Omantel) sold a $130m-equivalent sukuk via auction in the domestic market on Wednesday. Though the issuer could have achieved tighter pricing in the loan market, it wanted to aid the development of the sukuk market in Oman, said bankers.

The Sultanate of Oman, having returned to the debt market for a $1bn five year loan, has named the banks in the deal's syndicate.

The Sultanate of Oman signed a $1bn five year loan on Tuesday, with 11 banks in the oversubscribed deal, despite the sovereign being hit by a downgrade in the middle of the deal.

BankDhofar of Oman has followed the recent rush of Middle Eastern banks to the loan market for funding and signed a $250m three year club loan with six banks.

Oman Telecommunications has mandated three banks to arrange investor meetings for a Reg S only dollar and/or Omani rial sukuk.

Lenders are piling into a $4bn project loan for Oman's Liwa Plastics Industries, lured in by a juicy margin of around 250bp, according to a banker involved in the deal.

Oman is finalising a $1bn sovereign loan and could sign as early as tomorrow (Thursday), according to a banker on the deal.

Banks are arranging a loan of around $3bn for Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) to build the $4.5bn petrochemicals complex called Liwa Plastics Industries.

Arrangers have not set a closing date for the $1bn loan for the Sultanate of Oman, on which pricing has been widened recently, but bankers hope to close the deal before year end.

The Sultanate of Oman has widened the pricing of its $1bn loan by 10bp to encourage banks to lend, after the sovereign was downgraded by Standard & Poor's in November.

Kuwait petrochemical firm Equate is scheduled to complete its $6bn loan this week, while Oman and Qatar continue syndicating their sovereign loans.