Banking, Finance & Islamic Finance

Our lawyers' experience includes a Shari'a-compliant open-ended equity fund with full FSA submissions, a cross-border feeder fund, a waqf (endowment) investment fund, the establishment of a major fund for a sovereign institution, and Oman's first local retail sukuk issuance among sovereign sukuk and bond issuances.

Sole legal adviser on the establishment of the Sultanate's first FSA-regulated renewable-energy fund, an unlisted open-ended investment fund offered by way of private placement, dedicated to investments in unlisted Omani companies across the renewable-energy value chain (wind energy, energy storage and battery systems, renewable-energy equipment manufacturing and energy efficiency), in direct alignment with Oman Vision 2040 and the Sultanate's Net Zero 2050 commitments. The mandate covered the full scope of fund formation: structuring, drafting of the prospectus and Articles of Association, preparation and negotiation of the investment management, administration and custody arrangements, and all regulatory submissions and approvals with the FSA, including the legal adviser's statutory confirmation in the prospectus. Minimum fund capital at establishment: OMR 2 million.

For an international trading company, the court ordered a bank to return a guarantee of OMR 240,000, ordered a counterparty in liquidation to pay a further OMR 29,000, and substituted the liquidator into the judgment. The Court of Appeal rejected the challenge on the merits and upheld the judgment in full.