Octal mulls IPO by 2019 as it expands facilities globally

13-Feb-17

Octal, a US$650 mln petrochemical project in Oman, is eyeing an initial public offering by 2019 as it expands its facilities globally to cater to a growing clientele for its plastics products, according to company officials in thenational.ae. Octal, which was set up in 2006 in the southern port city of Salalah, is spending US$110 mln over a five-year period to produce new products, add capacity and expand its footprint into regions such as South America, according to Nicholas Barakat, the company’s chief executive. With regards to the IPO, the company has not finalised plans for size or location. Octal has in the past relied on loans and its own resources to fund expansion.
"We look at different scenarios," Mr Barakat said. "Markets are very fluid now in the Middle East. With the numbers we have, we qualify to float from Hong Kong to Tokyo to New York."

The company’s current capacity is 1 million tonnes a year of petrochemicals from plants in Salalah, the US and Saudi Arabia, 98 per cent of which is exported, with the US taking the lion’s share. The new capacity has not been finalised yet as the company mulls adding capacity from a new undisclosed location. "The objective here is to continue to invest in our asset base to produce more products out of the same machines," said William Barenberg Jr, the executive vice president and chief operating officer. "The other part is to incrementally add capacity this year aggressively both in Salalah and in Cincinnati in the USA."