Bank Sohar S.A.O.G. has mandated Bahrain-based Bank ABC as the Sole Bookrunner and Initial Mandated Lead Arranger to arrange on its behalf a US$250 million 3-year syndicated term loan facility (the “Facility”). The Facility will be used by Bank Sohar for general funding purposes. 

Ahead of general syndication Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, Axis Bank Limited and Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft have committed to join the Facility as Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers.  General syndication is expected to close by end of May 2017.

Company Overview

Bank Sohar is a leading corporate and retail bank in Oman, headquartered in Muscat. Bank Sohar was founded in 2007 and has grown its assets and market share since its inception to rank as 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 40.739% held directly and indirectly through various public entities. 

Bank Sohar continued to report solid growth in earnings and profitability in 2016 completing nine years of successful operations. Net loans and advances amounted to RO 1,913 million as at 31 December 2016, an increase of 16.15% compared to RO 1,647 million in 2015. The bank achieved a net profit of OMR 19.112 million for the year ending December 2016. Bank Sohar consistently shows one of the lowest NPL ratios (FYE 2016: 1.69%) among its peers and maintains strong provision coverage of 124% as of December 2016.

The Bank is rated BBB- (stable) by Fitch Ratings and BBB- (Negative) Capital Intelligence.​​​