Overview
Legal Expert Jobs in Masqaţ, Oman at Oman Investment Authority
Title: Legal Expert
Company: Oman Investment Authority
Location: Masqaţ, Oman
Organization: Ministry of Finance
Job Purpose:
To provide specialized legal advice and support to the Debt Management Office on all matters related to sovereign debt management, including domestic and international debt issuances, financing agreements, liability management operations, and the supporting legal and regulatory frameworks, ensuring compliance with applicable Omani laws and international market practices, and safeguarding the State’s legal and financial interests
Duties and Responsibilities:
• Provide legal advice on domestic and international sovereign debt issuances, including bonds, Sukuk, loans, and other financing instruments.
• Review, draft, and support negotiation of legal documentation relating to sovereign debt transactions.
• Review and provide legal advice on the Base Prospectus, offering circulars, and programme documentation for EMTN/MTN issuances, including assessment of disclosure requirements, risk factors, and selling restrictions and applicable regulatory compliance statements.
• Assess term sheets, guarantee documentation, and comfort letters for Government-Related Entities (GREs) seeking sovereign support, ensuring clarity of commitment, enforceability, authority/approvals, and alignment with the Ministry’s fiscal and legal frameworks.
• Ensure transaction structures and documentation comply with applicable Omani legislation, relevant regulatory requirements, and international market standards.
• Support legal due diligence processes for new issuances, refinancing, and liability management operations, including verification of conditions precedent and documentation completeness.
• Review and assess legal opinions from external counsel, banks’ counsel, and other transaction parties, ensuring adequacy and appropriate coverage.
• Advise on contractual obligations and protections, including covenants, events of default, representations, undertakings, sovereign commitments, dispute resolution provisions, and other material legal terms.
• Support transaction closing mechanics, signature processes, and closing deliverables / completion mechanics.
• Ensure the DMO’s compliance with the Public Debt Law and its Executive Regulations, including transaction governance, documentation standards, approvals discipline, and record retention, and support implementation of legal and regulatory requirements.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting sovereign borrowing, debt markets, and financial instruments, assess their implications for the Ministry, and brief DMO leadership with concise legal notes.
• Advise on cross-border regulatory compliance, including international sanctions compliance provisions and AML requirements, in coordination with relevant compliance and counterparty onboarding processes, where applicable.
• Support coordination with relevant regulatory and oversight bodies, including the Central Bank of Oman and other competent authorities, where required.
• Identify and assess legal risks arising from debt structures, guarantees, covenants, sovereign undertakings, governing law and jurisdiction provisions, and enforcement or dispute resolution clauses, and propose mitigation measures that protect the State’s interests.
• Support the review of amendments, consents, waivers, and variations across the lifecycle of financing arrangements.
• Provide legal support for international bond and Sukuk transactions governed by international capital markets documentation (ICMA standards) and market standards.
• Review and support negotiation of trust deeds, fiscal agency agreements, paying agency agreements, subscription agreements, and dealer agreements for bond and Sukuk issuances.
• Advise on ICMA-standard provisions including representations and warranties, covenants, events of default, listing rules / disclosure requirements, and trustee/fiscal agent appointment terms.
• Support Shariah compliance review and coordinate with Shariah advisors on Sukuk structures and documentation, ensuring legal consistency with Islamic finance principles, as confirmed by the appointed Shariah advisors.
• Provide legal support for sovereign loan transactions governed by Loan Market Association (LMA) documentation and English law.
• Review, assess, and support negotiation of LMA-standard documentation, including facility agreements (bilateral and syndicated), term sheets, accession and transfer provisions, and amendments, waivers, and restatements.
• Advise on key LMA concepts and provisions, including conditions precedent, utilisation mechanics, representations and warranties, covenants, events of default, prepayment and cancellation provisions, and lender consent requirements.
• Review governing law, jurisdiction, dispute resolution provisions, and sovereign protections, in coordination with MOJLA and external counsel.
• Act as the focal point for engaging and managing external legal counsel for sovereign debt transactions, including scoping, selection recommendations, engagement letters, performance oversight, and fee control.
• Manage legal costs and fee controls against agreed scope and transaction timelines, ensuring value-for-money and appropriate documentation to support governance and audit requirements.
• Maintain and organize legal documentation related to sovereign debt and financing transactions.
• Contribute to the development and enhancement of internal legal guidelines, templates, and standard documentation for debt operations, ensuring alignment with Omani legal requirements, approvals governance, and international market conventions.
• Coordinate with the Ministry of Justice & Legal Affairs (MOJLA) on matters requiring centralized legal review, State legal representation, formal legal opinions, or disputes/arbitration, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
• Prepare legal analyses and supporting documentation for referral to MOJLA where required.
• Liaise with MOJLA and MoF-appointed external counsel on sovereign debt transactions and legal issues of national significance.
• Contribute to internal committees, working groups, and approval processes related to debt management activities.
• Support the preparation of legal inputs for internal memoranda, ministerial submissions, committee papers, and senior management briefings.
• Maintain a legally auditable transaction “deal file” for each financing/issuance, including approvals, executed documentation, variations, and key legal positions, in line with governance and audit requirements.
• Provide legal support to initiatives aimed at the development of the domestic debt capital market, including the review and enhancement of legal and regulatory frameworks, standard documentation, and compliance with applicable laws, disclosure requirements, and market conduct standards, in coordination with relevant stakeholders.
Minimum Qualifications and Requirements:
- Qualified lawyer (admission in Oman and/or a recognized common-law jurisdiction) – advantage
- LLM in Banking/Finance/Capital Markets Law – advantage
- Relevant capital markets / loan documentation training (e.g., LMA, ICMA-based documentation) – advantageous
- Work Experience: 14 to 16 years of related work experience
Languages:
- Fluency in Arabic
- Fluency in English
Computer skills:
- Proficiency in MS Office is must
- Experience with business related software is desirable
