Equitix Joint Venture Fund, Rakiza acquires stake in Oman Broadband

Rakiza and ITHCA group are pleased to announce the financial closing of Rakiza’s acquisition of 39% equity in Oman Broadband Company SAOC (“Oman Broadband”). Oman Broadband is the largest fibre broadband infrastructure provider in Oman.

Oman Broadband owns, operates, and maintains passive broadband infrastructure, providing wholesale services to major internet service providers in Oman. The company operates the largest fibre network in Oman and is committed to further expanding and improving the network infrastructure, giving the population access to high speed and reliable broadband internet connectivity both in urban and rural parts of the country.

Rakiza, a private equity infrastructure fund independently co-managed by regulated independent fund manager Oman Infrastructure Investment Management (OIM) and UK-headquartered investor, developer, and fund manager Equitix, is committed to investing across a range of infrastructure assets in Oman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “

We are pleased to complete our investment in Oman Broadband and to partner with ITHCA in achieving Oman Broadband’s important mandate under the national broadband strategy. Rakiza is well placed to leverage its expertise to support the expansion of fibre networks in Oman and the Sultanate’s vision of ensuring world-class digital connectivity across the country” – Muneer Al-Muneeri, OIM CEO.

ITHCA Group (formally Oman Information and Communications Technology Group) was established in 2019 with a key aim of enhancing Oman’s digital capabilities and infrastructure in line with Oman Vision 2040 and the strategy of the Ministry of Technology and Communications.

“We are delighted to confirm our partial sale of Oman Broadband and to welcome our esteemed partner, Rakiza. The sale aligns with our overall strategy on co-investment and, given Rakiza’s pool of regional and international investors, represents further foreign direct investment in Oman’s ICT infrastructure. This transaction will help to foster collaboration to add value to Oman Broadband’s initiatives and will help ITHCA to continue investing in the rapidly emerging technology sector, positively impacting GDP and jobs growth in Oman.” – Said Al Mandhari, ITHCA Group CEO.

For media enquiries: Amjad.J@rakizafund.com

About Rakiza Infrastructure Fund
Rakiza is co-managed by Oman Infrastructure Investment Management (OIM), a specialist infrastructure manager based in Oman, and Equitix, a leading investor, developer, and fund manager of core infrastructure assets in the UK, Europe, US and the Middle East. The managers have joined forces to establish a Fund that will invest in public private partnership (PPP) and other core infrastructure projects in Oman and Saudi Arabia. Rakiza Fund’s strategy is to capitalize on the drive towards privatization and foreign direct investment (FDI) across the region, where first mover investors, with access to opportunities, are generally able to achieve higher returns.