DOHA: The Al Ahli Hospital Company (AAHC) yesterday signed amended loan agreements with leading banks in Qatar in line with the Islamic financing methodology and the Article of Association of the Company.
The agreements were signed by Izzat Al Rashid of AAHC and senior officials of the Qatar National Bank (QNB) Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ), Doha Bank, Arab Bank and HSBC at a ceremony held at the hospital premises yesterday.
The Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and National Bank of Oman are also participants in the revised loan agreement, worth a total of $60m.
"The Board of directors of Al Ahli Hospital has actively endeavored since its election in April 2002 to transfer the Bank Syndicate Loan which the company obtained through conventional commercial loan procedure to an Islamic restructured financing based on the Islamic principles and premises. The efforts of the board were successful and have been materialised into signing of these contracts today," said Izzat Al Rashid, addressing the press on the occasion.
While the value of the Islamic re-structured financing, the time frame and the parameters detailed in the amended contracts do not differ from the previous contacts, the amended contracts follow the Islamic lease methodology which ends in complete ownership by the company.
It allows in the meantime a longer grace period through a relatively semi-annual lease value for the first three years from the signing of the contracts, he added.
"Most of the banks which participated in the loan under the management of the Qatar National Bank were keen to continue in the Islamic restructured financing methodology. Qatar International Islamic Bank has joined as the Security Trustee for the other participating banks," Izzat Al Rashid said.
He thanked the managements of all the participating banks for their "in-depth understanding of the terminology of the Islamic financing and their sustainable efforts to continue up to the end."
QNB has the largest share worth $20m in the loan agreements, while the CBQ, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi have shares of $8m each. Doha Bank, Arab Bank, HSBC and National Bank of Oman holds shares worth 4m each.
The singing ceremony was attended by Ali Al Kuwari of QNB, Abdul Basit Al Sheibi of QIIB, Mohammed Mandani of CBQ, Yousef Al Neama of Doha Bank, Yousuf Abu El Hawa of Arab Bank, among others.
© The Peninsula 2004
