Oman’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) this week gave the green light for Aman REIT, paving the way for real investment funds to make a significant contribution to the diversification of the sultanate’s economy.
First established in the US more than 50 years ago to give investors the opportunity to sink funds into large-scale, diversified portfolios of income-producing real estate, the REIT concept has since been adopted by more than 30 countries around the world and has come to be recognised as an important and legitimate means of attracting inward investment. Aman REIT’s initial public offering (IPO) is expected to take place during the first quarter of the current year.The fund is expected to attract up to OMR20 million ($52m), with as much as 50% being offered to the public.
“We praise the first initiative to establish a real estate investment fund which we expect to have a noticeable impact in pushing the economic development process in Oman,” CMA Vice President Mohammed Said Al Abri said.“We are viewing such funds as a regulated portal for foreign investors in order to activate the real estate market by holding investment units; the funds would remedy the concerns of local investors over foreign investors entering and controlling properties, including residential properties and the social and security impacts.”
The funds would provide numerous options for investors by allowing companies and individuals to invest in real estate and own investment units without having direct control on the assets, he added. REITs would also allow foreign investors to own 100% in the properties, which would increase capital flow to the local market as well as positively enhancing foreign investments.
The total value of property transactions in the sultanate for the first 11 month of 2018 stood at $6.2bn.
Muscat gives go-ahead for Oman’s first REIT
Source: timesofoman