Power maintenance firm Oman National Engineering and Investment Company (Oneic) will accept a merger offer from a rival utility billing firm to create a monopoly in the sector, an executive of the company has said.

Oman Investment & Finance (OIF) said a day earlier that it proposed an all-share merger to consolidate operations and expand their network.

Abdullah Suleiman Al-Harthy, vice-chairman of Oneic told Reuters on Wednesday that the offer had met with conditional approval.

'We accept the merger in principle but subject to an OIF presentation, which we expect to receive shortly,' he said.

'We see benefits such as cost cutting, risk spreading, higher profit and gaining better business competitiveness with the merger.'

Al-Harthy said the financial and equity breakdown offer to Oneic would part of the OIF presentation.

The two are the country's only utility billing firms in electricity, water and telephones and the merger would create a monopoly in the sector. – Reuters