Muscat—Leading global law firm Dentons partnered with The Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association (GBSA) and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Muscat recently to co-host a gathering of senior government officials and leaders in the corporate, finance, legal and regulatory markets. Speakers examined what Debt Capital Markets (DCM) can offer to Oman-based organisations as well as what strategies to focus on when securing investors.

In the opening keynote, H.E. Hamood Sangour Al-Zadjali, Executive President of Central Bank of Oman, discussed the government's participation in raising debt for fiscal requirements and managing liquidity in financial markets. He also considered how the pricing of these issuances helps in developing a yield curve, potentially benchmarking other interest rates.

Dentons partner Alex Roussos led a panel of corporate and regulatory experts in a discussion on the complexities of bond and Sukuk transactions. Carla Slim, Regional Economist at SCB, contemplated the economic outlook in the GCC while SCB's Head of Corporate Debt Capital Markets, for the Middle East North Africa and Pakistan, Sarmad Mirza, led a buy-side panel exploring investor preferences.
President of the GBSA, Michael Grifferty, remarked: “Led by the government, more Oman-based companies have taken advantage of bond/Sukuk markets to extend their liability profiles and diversify their investor bases.”

Dentons partner Sadaf Buchanan, also commented, “We salute the hard work of the Capital Market Authority in strengthening the framework and regulations for the issuance of fixed income instruments. The new rules under consideration for Sukuk will provide more certainty for the process and improve the prospects for companies to fund in the capital market.”

The team at Dentons has paved the way in the Sultanate in acting on the first Basel III-compliant Tier 1 instruments for financial institutions in Oman as well as on some of the country's landmark Sukuk transactions. Across the Middle East, Dentons provides clients with access to an unrivalled office network, as well as lawyers with an outstanding reputation for DCM work complying with both conventional and Shari’ah principles. With DCM practitioners based in Dubai, Muscat and London the team has an established track record advising sovereigns and government-related entities, major investment banks, key regional financial institutions and large corporates across the region.

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