Oman’s Bank Sohar has planned to issue OMR 40 million rights shares in the beginning of 2015, declared Chief Executive Officer of Bank Sohar Rashad Ali Al Musafir, reported Times of Oman.

Al Musafir stated "The OMR40 million rights issue is planned before the end of the first quarter of next year."

Noteworthy, the Bank had planned earlier to issue mandatory convertible bonds worth OMR 70 million, however, it had changed the plan to the OMR 40 million rights issue.

The Bank’s CEO noted that the regulations of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) prevent converting convertible bonds for a two-year period, but the CMA is currently discussing the issue to check any available revisions.

Meanwhile, protecting the rights of investors, the CMA has applied a law which states that convertible bonds cannot be converted in the first two years, which is not a new law. In addition, Al Musafir noted that "The Basel Committee after the 2009 real estate crisis came up with a regulation saying that these bonds should be convertible at any point in time to support capital requirements and to absorb losses."