Oman's Al Madina Insurance Co (AMIC) plans to list its shares on the local bourse as part of its transformation into a takaful (Islamic insurance) firm, the company said on Monday.

AMIC said it planned to issue 66.67 million shares with a face value of 0.1 rial per share, equating to 40 percent of its total post-IPO capital. The offer will take place "some time during this year depending on approval" from Oman's Capital Market Authority (CMA), it said.

Oman decided in 2011 to introduce Islamic finance; its draft takaful regulations require local Islamic insurers to be public companies, and AMIC said it expected to become "one of the first takaful companies" on the market.

It was unclear how much money AMIC planned to raise. "There will be a premium on shares offered," the company said without elaborating.

AMIC said it had a market share of about five percent in Oman in terms of gross written premiums, and would rank sixth or seventh among 23 insurance companies.

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