Empower, the world’s largest district cooling services provider, has secured a US$127.8 million financing from Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), marking the first Islamic financing facility availed by the company.

“The agreement between Empower and Dubai Islamic Bank is an important milestone as this is the first bilateral deal between the two entities,” said Ahmad Bin Shafar, Chief Executive Officer, Empower. “We are looking forward to our partnership that will support the development of a world-class district cooling network in the United Arab Emirates.”

The facility has been granted for a tenor of five years payable over half yearly instalments to fund Empower’s multi-plant district cooling network in Dubai’s Business Bay area. The Business Bay district cooling network will eventually consist of 350,000 Refrigeration Tonnes (RT) worth of capacity for business, retail and residential buildings across this rapidly expanding neighbourhood.

The DIB funding has been based on a Mudaraba financing structure and has been provided on a standalone basis.

“This is significant because DIB considers Empower a secure investment. The DIB agreement will provide us with cost-effective funding to sustain our growth and drive the implementation of our landmark Business Bay project” explained Bin Shafar.

“DIB is on an established growth agenda successfully executing the next phase of its medium-term strategy. A key component of this phase is alignment to initiatives and entities that are critical to, and support the infrastructural development of Dubai. We view Empower as an organization integral to the growth and development of the Emirate and welcome its first foray into Islamic finance. The transaction not only marks a new phase for the company but also highlights the growing confidence and popularity of Islamic banking in the region and beyond,” said Dr. Adnan Chilwan, CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank. “This new arrangement with Empower is testament to our focus in this area, and adds to the list of deals we have successfully completed to support the sustainable growth of this sector.”

Empower holds the world’s largest district cooling services capacity. In total, the company’s existing district cooling services network consists of one million RT of capacity across many landmark real estate projects in Dubai including Business Bay, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai Healthcare City, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Palm Jumeirah, Discovery Gardens, Dubai Design District among others.

“We pursue a financing strategy through a mix of debt and equity to maximise shareholder returns,” concluded Bin Shafar. “Over the last decade, we have found that our prudent strategies have enabled us to deliver solid operating and financial results and meet our commitments as per agreed timelines.”