Abu Dhabi/Dubai – 6 March 2004. The National Central Cooling Company (PJSC) (“Tabreed”) today announced that it had successfully cleared the markets with its US$100 million Islamic Sukuk Offering, the first public corporate Islamic Sukuk Offering and first corporate listing from the Gulf in Luxembourg. The offering cleared the capital markets as a US$100 million Islamic Sukuk Offering (“ISO”), 5 years maturity, and a coupon of 5.50%.
Mohamed Saif Al Mazrouie, Chairman of Tabreed, said, “This offering gave Tabreed the opportunity to access a new investor base and created Tabreed name awareness among a whole new range of regional and offshore investors that the company will also be able to tap in the future. This financing has aligned Tabreed’s business growth strategy with its financial strategy. In addition we are extremely satisfied with the offering that made it possible to tap new attractive capital for the company and for Tabreed to continue to be at the forefront of regional capital markets and international Islamic capital markets”.
Christian R. Mouchabhani, Director at The National Investor, was quoted as saying: “Tabreed’s business success story and growth strategy was well received by regional, international and Islamic capital markets. Working with Tabreed’s management since inception and later with the syndicate on this historical offering has been exciting. The US$ 100 million Islamic Sukuk Offering (“ISO”) should open the gates for other local and international corporates to access the promising emerging Islamic Capital Markets.. This Offering was a great success, despite being a challenge for regional and Islamic capital markets, as it is innovative in regard to taking corporate capital market risk, provided with a new innovative structure and fixed coupon to which Islamic and regional investors are not used to. All this taken within the context of the international capital markets and Luxembourg listing requirements.”
The company had mentioned earlier that the The National Investor acted as Sole Adviser, Sole Arranger and Joint Lead Manager, CSFB as Joint Lead Manager, Emirates Bank as Co- Lead Manager, and Shamil Bank of Bahrain, Kuwait Finance House and National Bank of Sharjah as Co-Manager, successfully completing a well diversified and complementary Syndicate.
About Tabreed: Tabreed has offered district cooling services as a utility in the UAE for over five years, pioneering energy efficient gas-fired and electric-powered district cooling solutions in the UAE and across the region. The largest district cooling service provider in the world, Tabreed offers customers the highest quality service through an integrated energy system devised to help them optimise their energy usage and reduce power and maintenance costs.
Tabreed is a member of the International District Energy Association (IDEA), Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), American Gas Cooling Centre, Inc. (AGCC) and the Dubai Quality Group.
The National Investor: The National Investor is a leading UAE based regional advisory and investment firm with a track record in innovative advisory, fundraising, private equity and asset management. The National Investor is backed by 60 UAE based shareholders and is actively involved in investment banking, private equity, and asset management.