Monday, Jul 09, 2012
(This article was originally published Sunday)
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Dubai Duty Free, the state-owned company that operates tax-free shops at the Dubai International Airport, said it raised $1.75 billion via a six-year, syndicated loan to fund the expansion of the emirate's air and transport hub.
The transaction, which includes conventional and Islamic facilities, was oversubscribed and the final amount exceeded the initial target of $1.1 billion, according to an emailed statement. The airport duty free shop operator says this is the largest syndicated facility for a Dubai-related entity since 2008.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Citi, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD and HSBC were book runners and mandated lead arrangers. The syndicate comprised 26 banks in total.
DDF is fully owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the Dubai government's main investment arm. It currently has about 18,000 square meters of retail space and 4,200 staff. It processes an average of 62,000 transactions per day.
DDF last week reported an 11% increase in sales for the first half of the year with turnover reaching $772 million, which it said puts it on track to reach annual sales of $1.64 billion.
-By Nicolas Parasie, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 446 1681, nicolas.parasie@dowjones.com; Twitter: @ZDJnews
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-07-12 0340GMT
