MUSCAT: Bank Sohar S.A.O.G. (Bank Sohar or the Company) has mandated Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.) as the Sole Bookrunner and Initial Mandated Lead Arranger (the Bookrunner) to arrange on its behalf a debut US$ 250 million syndicated term loan facility (the Facility). The Facility will be used by Bank Sohar for general funding purposes. The Facility carries a tenor of 3 years and pays a margin of L+120bps. Syndication was launched today and is expected to close by end of June 2015.
Bank Sohar is a leading corporate and retail bank in Oman headquartered in Muscat. The Bank was founded in 2007 and has grown its assets and market share since its inception to rank the fourth largest bank in Oman by terms of assets. In addition to being regulated by the Central Bank of Oman, as a public joint stock company whose shares are listed and traded on the Muscat Security Market, the Bank is also regulated by the Capital Market Authority. The Oman government is the single largest shareholder with 42.2% held directly and indirectly through various public entities.
Bank Sohar continued to report solid growth in earnings and profitability in 2014 completing seven years of successful operations. The bank achieved a net profit of OMR 29.878 million for the year ended December 2014, 11.19% higher than 2013 Net Profit. This was mainly on account of growing Operating Income, primarily Net Interest Income on the back of a 14% growth in Net Loans and Advances. Bank Sohar consistently shows one of the lowest NPL ratios (FYE 2014: 1.51%) among its peers and maintains strong coverage of 144% as of December 2014. The Bank is rated BBB+ (stable) by both Capital Intelligence and Fitch Ratings.