HSBC Holdings has been appointed to manage a public share offer of a joint venture firm that owns and operates a $1 billion water and power project in Oman, two banking sources said on Tuesday.

Singapore's Sembcorp Utilities, a unit of Sembcorp Industries, has a 60 percent stake in the Sembcorp Salalah Power and Water Company. Oman Investment Corp owns 35 percent and Instrata Capital 5 percent in the joint venture.

Sembcorp said in June that it planned an initial public offering of the joint venture firm this year.

The joint venture firm must offload at least 35 percent of its capital through an IPO on the Muscat bourse as part of a mandatory requirement in the Gulf state which requires private sector utilities to list shares locally.

A spokesman for the joint venture firm declined to comment.

The banking sources, who did not provide details on the firm's capital, spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is not public. HSBC declined to comment.

The Salalah Independent Water and Power Plant consists of a gas-fired combined cycle power plant with a gross capacity of 490 megawatts and a seawater desalination plant with a total water production capacity of 69,000 cubic metres per day, according to its website.

The facility provides power and drinking water under a 15-year power and water purchase agreement to the Oman Power and Water Procurement Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Government of Oman.

British bank HSBC has a banking arm in Oman in which it owns a 51 percent stake. – Reuters