www.gulf-times.com - QInvest
has advised a Turkey-based Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on the
latter’s $50mn syndicated ‘murabaha’ finance facility.
QInvest acted as sole book runner and structuring advisor to İş
Gayrimenkul Yatırım Ortaklığı (İş REIT), which entered into a financing
agreement with a syndicate of banks from the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC).
The finance facility carries tenure of two years and a profit rate of Libor +250 basis points. (source)
Qatar Islamic Bank was the initial mandated lead arranger and is also
acting as the investment agent with Barwa Bank, First Gulf Bank, Mashreq
Bank taking the mandate lead arranger roles.
“The success of this deal is a testament to the efforts of all teams
involved. QInvest was able to execute this transaction by bringing a
number of leading banks into the syndicate and we are pleased to have
arranged this milestone transaction in Turkey,” QInvest CEO Shahzad
Shahbaz said.
Founded in 1999, İş REIT is a Turkish REIT engaged in the investment and
development of realty projects in Turkey. The company’s portfolio was
valued at $920mn as at December 31, 2011. It is 42% owned by the public,
42.2% by Türkiye İş Bankası and 15.8% by other shareholders.
“We believe that a Murabaha facility is the most suitable form of
financing for our business since it is one of the most widely used
instruments used by banks within Islamic finance,” according to Turgay
Tanes, CEO of Is REIT, which is listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange and
has a market capitalisation of about $431mn as on August 26, 2012.
This type of instrument offers relevant cost and payment terms for the current and future investments, he said.
Source : http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=527672&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28 - Aug 28, 2012
