Muscat – Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), in collaboration with Oman Investment Authority (OIA), has announced the establishment of a new real estate investment fund (REIF) in the sultanate.

‘We would like to announce that on April 13 Omantel in collaboration with OIA established a real estate investment fund called Pearl REIF, a special purpose REIF company approved by the Capital Market Authority,’ Omantel said in a disclosure to the Muscat Stock Exchange.

The share capital of the Pearl REIF Fund is RO42.477mn, Omantel added.

Omantel said its contribution to Pearl REIF is in-kind and to this effect the company has entered into a definitive agreement with Pearl REIF for a sale and lease back of its headquarters building located in Madinat Al Irfan.

‘In consideration of its in-kind contribution, Omantel will receive 279,086,867 units of 100bz each in the Pearl REIF Fund and a cash amount of RO27.09mn for the total value of its in-kind contribution,’ Omantel noted.

This transaction is part of Omantel’s asset-light strategy that is expected to support the deleveraging of its existing debts, the company added in its disclosure.

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