Oman International Development and Investment Company (Ominvest), one of the largest investment companies in the Middle East, opened its state-of-the-art Ominvest Business Centre (OBC) conceptualised to be one of the smartest and most modern office complex in Oman.
Ominvest Business Centre was opened under the patronage of Mohammad al Zubair, Adviser to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos for Economic Planning Affairs in the presence of a number of His Highnesses, board of directors and executive management of Ominvest. Following the inaugural ceremony the guests were taken on a tour to show the landmark building.
OBC, which sets a new benchmark in Oman for commercial design, incorporating state-of-the-art features, has been established to demonstrate Ominvest’s commitment to promote economic and social growth in the Sultanate. Built by Ominvest’s subsidiary company Oman Real Estate Investment & Services (ORIS), the OBC is an Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC) which has freehold status and is available for both local and foreign investors. It is strategically situated in the heart of Muscat and is 10 minutes away from the Muscat International Airport. The new project is also expected to help Ominvest diversify its revenue streams and create durable value for all stakeholders. It is also part of Ominvest’s vision to be the largest and best performing publicly traded investment company in the MENA region within the next five years. OBC will also house the headquarters of Ominvest at the penthouse.
The inaugural ceremony opened with a speech by Khalid Muhammad al Zubair, Chairman of Ominvest. During his speech he spoke about Ominvest’s journey in the local and regional market since it was established in 1983.
Khalid Muhammad al Zubair said, “Over the last 35 years, Ominvest has made remarkable progress and has evolved nimbly to be able to seize emerging opportunities and respond to new challenges. It has been both a gratifying and a humbling journey, which began in 1983, when our honourable father and his colleagues friends laid the foundation of Ominvest. Their vision and values have been the guiding principles for Ominvest ever since and will continue to drive our successes in years to come.”
He added, “We attribute Ominvest’s achievements of the last three decades to our visionary founders, wise leadership of the succeeding chairmen and the Boards of Directors, and smart stewardship of our management teams.
We are profoundly thankful to the esteemed leadership at CBO and CMA for guiding and supporting us on bringing innovative transaction structures to the market and participating in large-scale capital market activities to increase liquidity and help build investor confidence. We believe that a healthy discussion and a close interaction between the policy makers, the regulators and the private sector entities will strengthen businesses in the key sectors and help stimulate economic growth in the country.”
He further added, “In 2014, we went through some interesting discussions at Ominvest. Our board and the management had various brainstorming sessions, where in, we articulated, refined and agreed on our investment philosophy and the business model — to be able to meet emerging challenges and seize rewarding opportunities.”
Sharing key tenants of Ominvest’s investment philosophy, which, essentially drives its investment decisions, the chairman said, “It’s based on various key principles that include: buying high quality businesses at attractive valuations and keeping a long-term perspective, investing within our key areas of expertise, enhancing diversification of our investment portfolios to reduce systematic and concentration risks, keeping leverage at modest levels and well within our capacity to borrow and service the debt, adhering to the classic buy and hold, value-oriented investment strategy — the way it has been practiced by the most admired visionary investors of the world.”
