01 Apr, 2018Dar Al-Arkan of Saudi Arabia rings market bell to celebrate listing of USD 500 million Sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai

Ceremony celebrates strategic financial markets ties between UAE and Saudi Arabia

Dar Al-Arkan of Saudi Arabia rings market bell to celebrate listing of USD 500 million Sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai

• Listing supports Dar Al- Arkan’s financing strategy to access the Capital Markets

• With fourth listing

Yousef Bin Abdullah Al-Shelash, Chairman of Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company, one of the largest Real Estate Developers in the Middle East, today rang the market opening bell to celebrate the listing of a 500 million US dollar Sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai.

The listing provides strong support for Dar Al-Arkan’s financing and capital raising strategy to support the continuing growth of real estate activities across Saudi Arabia, including commercial real estate and integrated residential communities, as well as its international developments expansions including the ‘I Love Florence Tower’, a co-branded residential tower project in Downtown Dubai announced in December 2017.

The five-year Sukuk was more than 2 times oversubscribed and received significant interest from Middle Eastern, European and Asian investors. It brings Dar Al-Arkan’s total Sukuk value listed on Nasdaq Dubai to 1.85 billion US dollars, following three other Sukuk listings by the company on the region’s international exchange in 2014 and 2017.

The bell ceremony took place in the presence of His Excellency Essa Kazim, Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Secretary General of Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), and Chairman of Dubai Financial Market (DFM), and senior representatives of Dar Al-Arkan, as well as Abdul Wahed Al Fahim, Chairman of Nasdaq Dubai and Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai.

Yousef Bin Abdullah Al-Shelash, Chairman of Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company, said: "Our latest successful Sukuk issuance supports our activities throughout Saudi Arabia under the National Transformation Program as part of the ‘Vision 2030’ strategy, as well as the international expansion that we began in 2017. Our listing on Nasdaq Dubai, the international exchange based in the GCC, provides us with excellent links and visibility to investors in our own region and around the world as well as a respected listing platform regulated to international standards."

His Excellency Essa Kazim, Governor of DIFC, Secretary General of DIEDC and Chairman of DFM, said: "This listing by one of the Middle East’s leading real estate development companies underlines the close Islamic capital markets ties between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. We will further strengthen our relationships with Sharia’a-compliant entities in GCC countries to underpin Dubai’s expansion as the global Capital of Islamic Economy under the initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai."

Dar Al-Arkan’s assets in Saudi Arabia include a 37 million square meter land bank in Jeddah, Riyadh and Mecca that is the basis for comprehensive urban development projects with accompanying infrastructure.

Abdul Wahed Al Fahim, Chairman of Nasdaq Dubai, said: "We are delighted to make our comprehensive exchange infrastructure available to Dar Al-Arkan in order to support its capital raising needs as it pursues its real estate activities. Nasdaq Dubai will maintain its strategy of attracting high quality issuers of Sukuk and other Islamic asset classes across a wide range of industry sectors."

Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai, said: "We congratulate Dar Al-Arkan’s team for concluding a successful transaction and listing and are committed to strengthening our relationship with the company and the investors in its Sukuk through our post-listing relationship. As an international platform, we are preparing to expand our support for a range of issuers in Saudi Arabia and other regional and international countries."

Dar Al-Arkan’s latest Sukuk listing on Nasdaq Dubai took place on March 22, 2018.

Dubai’s Sukuk listings have now reached a total nominal value of 58.815 billion US dollars, the highest amount of any listing venue in the world.