Oman’s MSX will get a much-needed shot in the arm if the IPO of Oman India Fertilizer Co. is a hit

Oman’s MSX is hoping for a shot in the arm (and an inflow of foreign investment) with a big IPO now on the starting line: The Oman India Fertilizer Co (Omifco), a 50-50 Omani-Indian JV, plans to list on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX). The IPO will see Omifco float 25% of its shares — the company has yet to say how much it hopes to raise. The opening of the order window later this month is pending regulatory approval, with the start of trading expected in July, Omifco said in its intention to float (pdf).

Just in time? Oman’s first IPO in 2026 will come after a difficult month in May that saw trading volumes fall 33% m-o-m and the MSX 30 index drop 7.3% — reversing a 10-month upward trend since July 2025. The slump came on the back of a wartime risk-off that included OQ Base Industries shares falling 10% after Saudi Arabia’s PIF sold a 3.75% stake just before Eid Al Adha. A listing of Omifco’s caliber could help restore trading volumes in the short term while driving bigger MSX capitalization over the longer term.

What does Omifco do? It runs the largest fertiliser complex in Oman — and one of the five biggest in the GCC — out of Sur Industrial City, converting cheap, long-term contracted Omani natural gas into anhydrous ammonia and granular urea. Its big money maker is urea, which accounted for nearly 93% of 2025 revenue. It’s also a big India play: The country bought 71% of Omifco’s urea and 61% of its ammonia in the three years ending in 2025, with Latin America buying 17%.

A familiar playbook: Existing shareholders are cashing-out risk, taking 100% of the proceeds from the listing — but they’re promising new stockholders guaranteed dividends for two years. That’s the same approach we’ve seen with Oman’s IPOs of state-owned companies over the last year. The company is signaling it will distribute OMR 71.2 mn (USD 185 mn) in profits from the current fiscal year and 90% of net profit (or a 3% step-up from the FY2026 dividend) through 2028.

Omifco wants to attract international investors: The offering is compliant with the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation S.

The numbers look good (when you look past the small matter of the Strait of Hormuz): USD 802.3 mn in 2025 revenue at a 50.6% EBITDA margin and a 40% net margin, with its plants running above their nameplate capacity and no debt on the balance sheet. Margins held up nicely in 1Q, which saw the impact of just one month of war.

Why we think this is one to watch: Saudi’s Tadawul notched a win with the successful IPO of IT services outfit Dar Al Balad, but it was a minnow. The bigger test is Mutlaq Al Ghowairi, where the order book opened just this week. Saudi IPOs are supported largely by domestic capital — foreigners have so far shown little appetite for Tadawul stocks. Oman has nowhere near the domestic liquidity that Saudi does, making the Reg S piece the thing to watch: Will foreign capital come into a stock — even one with fundamentals and a dividend policy as attractive as Omifco’s — while the war limps on?

ADVISORS- Bank Muscat and Société Générale are joint global coordinators, with Arqaam Capital and United Securities acting as joint bookrunners.