Khalifa Fund signs deal with Abu Dhabi Finance

Abu Dhabi: The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi Finance (ADF) which contains a number of services for commercial mortgage for the Fund’s applicants. This agreement supports the Khalifa Fund’s efforts to prepare the appropriate environment to establish and improve the enterprises financed by the Fund all over the country.

The MoU was signed by Abdullah Saeed Al Darmaki, the CEO of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, and Ali Eid Al Muhairi, the chairman of Abu Dhabi Finance, in the presence of executives from both sides.

“This MoU comes as an example of the Fund’s efforts to provide alternative financial solutions for its applicants in order to reduce their operating costs by offering an alternative to the increase of rent for our applicants,” said Al Darmaki after the signing ceremony.

“The start-up cost of a business will be reduced by about 30 per cent, and the Fund will provide support to applicants by offering varying levels of guarantees,” Al Darmaki added. “We expect that 30-40 applicants will benefit from this scheme at the initial stages, while the number of beneficiaries will be increased gradually,” he added.

Al Muhairi said: “This agreement is proof of Abu Dhabi Finance’s commitment to support the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises in the UAE and enable them to develop and grow in order to serve the national economy.”

Benefits

“The volume of funding for entrepreneurs in this special programme will be determined according to the needs of the project, taking into account cash flows by offering competitive interest rates and affordable repayment periods” Al Muhairi added.

“The programme aims to alleviate the impact of fluctuations in rents on the performance of projects supported by the Khalifa Fund,” he added.

He added: “Cooperation with the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development is an important part of the strategy of Abu Dhabi Finance to provide mortgage services to companies.”

Rents usually account for a huge amount of the finance provided by Khalifa Fund, which makes the idea of commercial mortgages an efficient solution to support small and medium-sized enterprises.