Saudi’s Emaar Economic City affiliate gets 2.7b riyal loan

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Emaar the Economic City said on Wednesday that an affiliate had obtained a 2.7 billion riyal ($720 million, Dh2.6 billion) Islamic loan from banks to finance the second phase of building King Abdullah Port. Ports Development Co secured a murabaha facility from Arab National Bank and Saudi British Bank with a tenor of 14 years, Emaar said in a bourse statement.

The loan is backed by collateral, including the port’s plot of land. Emaar is developing King Abdullah Economic City, a massive business zone on the Red Sea coast near Jeddah. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s top sovereign wealth fund, was negotiating to buy a stake in the project in order to accelerate its development.