The holding company will focus on six sectors - oil, oil-related trading, IT, logistics, oil and gas equipment and fast-moving consumer goods - and invest with international partners. At least seven foreign companies have already been identified. The conversion of Ociped, which had previously been a public authority, was approved by the cabinet on 12 June.

'Incorporating Ociped so that it can be closer to the market and understand the needs of investors is like putting us in the shoes of an investor,' Ociped executive president Salem bin Nasser al-Ismaily said in Muscat on 13 June. 'We will be in a better position to serve investors when we ourselves become investors.'