Tamweel successfully closes US$235 million syndicated bank facility

Tamweel PJSC, the largest provider of real estate finance in the UAE, announced today that it has successfully closed a US$235 million (AED 863.5 million) syndicated bank facility, which involved the participation of leading regional and international financial institutions, including banks based in the Far East.

The facility, provided under a Sharia-compliant structure, will be used to fund Tamweel’s long-term growth and aggressive business objectives. The financing documents have been approved by Noor Islamic Bank’s Sharia Board and fully vetted by Tamweel’s Sharia Supervisory Board.

ABN AMRO and Noor Islamic Bank served as lead arrangers and joint bookrunners for the transaction, which has been priced in both US dollars and UAE dirhams, and will reach maturity in three years.
This landmark facility comes on the heels of Tamweel’s successful closure of a US$300 million (AED 1.1 billion) exchangeable sukuk issue, whose order book was oversubscribed within hours of announcing the launch, in January 2008. This follows the company’s US$210 million (AED 772 million) asset-backed securitization issue in 2007, which was placed primarily with European investors.

“In this period of rapid growth of our business in the UAE and ongoing international expansion, this syndicated bank facility provides us with an even more diversified source of funding,” said Wasim Saifi, Chief Executive Officer, Tamweel. “As we move closer towards our goal of becoming the most admired financial services institution in the Middle East, such funding is essential to supporting Tamweel’s ambitious growth strategy.”

“The successful closure of this facility further demonstrates the confidence that regional and international financial institutions place in Tamweel,” said Gaurav Agarwal, Chief Financial and Support Services Officer, Tamweel. “As well, the pricing, tenor and coverage of this facility are all extremely competitive, especially considering today’s challenging global economic environment. We are grateful to all the participating banks for their support of this transaction, which is in line with our larger funding strategy and opens up increased opportunities for Tamweel to invest in new opportunities and new markets.”

“We are delighted to have jointly arranged the debut syndicated bank facility for Tamweel, which received an extremely positive response from financial institutions based here in the Middle East and across the world. We aim to play an important role in the development of Islamic banking industry by bringing high quality, well-structured Sharia complaint issues to the market,” said Hussain Al Qemzi, Chief Executive Officer, Noor Islamic Bank. “This enthusiastic response and the attractive terms of the transaction are testament to the strength of Tamweel and its long-term vision of growth. As one of the UAE’s premier Sharia-compliant financial services providers, we are proud to provide our support to Tamweel.”

“In this period of marked global financial instability, the international financial services community is more eager than ever to tap opportunities in high-growth emerging markets, especially the UAE,” said Vishnu Deuskar, Head of Global Markets ABN AMRO UAE. “As the country’s acknowledged leader in real estate finance, one of the fastest-expanding areas of the national economy, Tamweel is particularly attractive, as demonstrated by the successful closure of this internationally-backed facility. ABN AMRO is very pleased to support the company’s continued growth and ongoing international expansion.”

In February 2008, Tamweel formalised its intention to launch operations in Egypt by receiving its mortgage finance license from the Egyptian Mortgage Finance Authority. The company expects to begin operations in the North African state during the second quarter of this year.

Tamweel has already signed a joint venture agreement with Al Oula Development Company in Saudi Arabia, where the company expects to open a subsidiary later this year. By 2011, Tamweel anticipates international operations contributing 30 per cent of total revenues.

About Tamweel PJSC:

Tamweel PJSC, the highest-rated non-banking financial institution in the region (rated A by Fitch and A3 by Moody’s) is the largest provider of real estate finance in the UAE by market share and asset size. Tamweel was established in March 2004, became a public joint stock company in June 2006 and was listed on the Dubai Financial Market in July 2006.

Tamweel is a provider of a wide range of unparalleled customer-service solutions and innovative home finance products, working with 300 partners across the UAE. The company, which aims to become the regional home finance leader through its expansion plans into Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries in the MENA region, has branches in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, as well as in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. For more information, please visit www.tamweel.ae