The Dubai shopping mall, BurJuman Center, has signed an agreement with three United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks to finance half of its ambitious expansion program, due for completion by early 2003. The package, valued at 600 million Emirati dirhams ($163 million), represents the longest corporate-term loan facility ever placed in the UAE. The tenor of the loans is also a UAE record.
Dubai-based finance specialists Executive Consultants helped structure and negotiate the deal, while Key & Dixon, also of Dubai, acted as legal consultants to BurJuman Center. National Bank of Dubai and Emirates Bank International are the main financiers, each providing Dh250 million. Mashreq Bank will loan Dh100 million to cover general corporate and working capital requirements.
Majid Saif Al-Ghurair, president of BurJuman Center, said: “The Government of Dubai has stressed that it is business as usual in the UAE and that is precisely our approach… We have already invested Dh700 million of our own resources into the expansion project because we believe so strongly in the strength of our brand and the business potential in Dubai and the UAE.”
National Bank of Dubai, Emirates Bank International and Mashreq Bank beat off competition from a shortlist of eight local and international banks to service BurJuman’s financing needs. Sameer Al Ansari, President and CEO of Executive Consultants, added: “The three bi-lateral loans, with a moratorium of four years and a tenor of nine and a half years, are the longest corporate-term loan facilities ever placed in the UAE. The average cost is around 110 basis points above DIBOR. Repayment is scheduled to begin in mid-2005 and end in the first quarter of 2011.”
Commandeering real estate adjacent to its current location the New BurJuman, scheduled to open in early 2003, will feature 400,000 square feet of office space, 163 luxury furnished apartments, 500,000 square feet of additional retail space, as well as leisure arcades, specialty restaurants and a health club.
Established in December 2000 at The Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone, Executive Consultants is a UAE company specializing in corporate finance and management consultancy services for businesses of all sizes. Executive Consultants also provides litigation support and conducts feasibility studies and valuations. — (menareport.com)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
