Officials during the Dar Al Arkhan’s bell ringing ceremony.

Business Bureau, Gulf Today

Yousef Bin Abdullah Al-Shalash, Chairman of Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company of Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday rang the market opening bell at Nasdaq Dubai to celebrate the listing of a 600 million US dollar Sukuk.

The listing supports the accelerating development activities of Dar Al-Arkan, one of the Middle East’s leading real estate developers, including flagship integrated residential communities across Saudi Arabia, as well as its ‘I Love Florence Tower’ in Downtown Dubai.

The five-year Sukuk was more than 2.5 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 $1.6 billion, following listings of two Sukuk’s of $500 million each in 2017 and 2018. This issue was Dar Al Arkan’s 10th issue since 2007 and the 6th tranche of its current $2 billion programme.

The issue is for a 5 year term due in February 2025 with a coupon rate of 6.75 per cent.

The company’s latest Sukuk underlines Dubai’s role as one of the largest global centres for Sukuk listings by value with a current total of $64.3 billion. UAE issuers account for 45 per cent of these by value and 55 per cent are from issuers based in other countries.

Yousef Bin Abdullah Al-Shalash, Chairman of Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development Company, said: “With over 1.5 billion US dollars of subscriptions, our latest Sukuk issuance was very well received by the market. It is a testament to our strong relationship with the global debt capital markets and a big vote of confidence from investors in our stewardship of their capital. The funds raised provide us with the capital to dynamically invest in our business activities across Saudi Arabia as we see the market conditions improving and prepare for the next upcycle. As the region’s international exchange, Nasdaq Dubai provides our Sukuk with high visibility to regional and international investors as well as an efficient listing platform regulated to international standards.”

Essa Kazim, Governor of DIFC, Secretary General of DIEDC and Chairman of DFM, said: “Dar Al-Arkan’s new listing further strengthens the close Islamic capital markets ties between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which greatly benefit issuers, investors and the wider economy. We will continue to develop our relationships with Sharia’a-compliant entities across the GCC 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.”

MSCI added Dar Al-Arkan to its Emerging Markets Index following Saudi Arabia’s inclusion in the index in May 2019. Dar Al-Arkan was also one of 12 Saudi-listed companies on which Nasdaq Dubai launched futures contracts in January 2019.

Abdul Wahed Al Fahim, Chairman of Nasdaq Dubai, said: “We are delighted to deepen our relationship with one of the Middle East’s largest real estate developers and its diverse Sukuk investors. This listing underlines the increasing success of Nasdaq Dubai’s strategy of attracting high quality issuers of Sukuk across a wide range of industry sectors.”

Dar Al-Arkan’s assets include about 12.4 million square meters of projects under development. The company has handed over 15,000 residential units in Saudi Arabia and holds a land bank with a book value of circa 17 billion Saudi riyals.

Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai, said: “Our comprehensive exchange infrastructure including our post-listing services is positioned to support Dar Al-Arkan as it pursues its real estate strategy for the benefit of businesses and individuals. We are preparing to expand our support for the capital raising needs of 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 Oct.16, 2019.

Nasdaq Dubai is the international financial exchange serving the region between Western Europe and East Asia. It welcomes regional as well as global issuers that seek regional and international investment. The exchange currently lists shares, derivatives, Sukuk (Islamic bonds), conventional bonds and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS).

The majority shareholder of Nasdaq Dubai is Dubai Financial Market with a two-thirds stake. Borse Dubai owns one third of the shares. The regulator of Nasdaq Dubai is the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Nasdaq Dubai is located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

Dar Al Arkan is the largest real estate developer listed on the Saudi Stock exchange (Tadawul). With SR10.8 billion in capital and SR26 billion in assets, and considered one of the leading real estate companies in the Middle East. Since 1994, Dar Al Arkan has enriched the Saudi real estate market with the best innovative residential solutions, having developed 15,000 residential units and 500,000 square meters of luxury commercial space.