Dubai's Majid Al Futtaim taps $500m 'green sukuk' to refinance $800m bond payment
Dubai mall developer has since 2019 been consistent with sustainability-lined finance
Dubai: The Dubai-headquartered mall and residential commuity developer, Majid Al Futtaim has raised a further $500 million sukuk to refinance an existing $800 million bond commitment. The latest debt uptake is through ‘green financing’ ways, and continuing a practice that the company introduced in May 2019.
The company has ‘demonstrated a prudent preference for sustainability-linked funding’, said a statement with a second green sukuk raised in October 2019 and followed by a $1.5 billion sustainability-linked loan in July 2021.
With the latter, Majid Al Futtaim became the first privately-owned Dubai corporation to borrow through such a facility. It continues to be the ‘region's only ‘penalty-only’ borrower’. (A second SLL was closed in September 2022 for $1.25 billion.)
“The issuance of today’s green sukuk, is a testament of the global investment community’s continued confidence and robust support in our company, the sustainability of our debt portfolio and the inherent strength of our long-term strategic focus,” said Ahmed Galal Ismail, CEO at Majid Al Futtaim Holding.
Majid Al Futtaim in 2022 had group-wide revenues up 12 per cent to Dh36.3 billion, while EBITDA increased 4 per cent to Dh4.1 billion.
Setting decarbonisation targets
Majid Al Futtaim Group is on track to meet a ‘positive water and energy footprint by 2040’ and remove single-use plastic at all its operations by 2025. It is one of the first private companies in the region committed to science-based targets (SBTs) to accelerate decarbonisation across its businesses. The group's company's 'green-certified' properties span 4 million square meters.
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