Mubasher: Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has signed a landmark financing facility agreement with Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK), First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), and Noor Bank.

The loan deal is valued at $480 million, expandable to $800 million, according to a recent official statement.

This financing facility has a tenor of four years, featuring both conventional and Islamic tranches.

The statement added that this landmark loan has been arranged through a syndicated structure with ABK which acts as the Coordinating Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner, together with UAE-based FAB acting as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner, and Noor Bank as Mandated Lead Arranger.

“FAB will also act as the Global Agent, Facility Agent and Investment Agent, whilst Noor Bank will act as the Islamic Structuring Agent,” the statement said.

It added: “The financing will support DAE’s purchase of the aircraft, spare engines and pre-delivery financing that the Borrower intends to dispose of or refinance. DAE currently has a fleet of nearly 400 Airbus, ATR and Boeing aircraft with a fleet value of over $14 billion.”

Michel Accad, Group CEO at ABK, said that the financing facility is one of the biggest transactions of its kind involving conventional and Islamic tranches which makes it a landmark deal for the region.

Speaking on the transaction, the CEO of DAE, Firoz Tarapore, commented: “This facility further diversifies our funding sources and adds to the unsecured component of our liquidity profile increasing our unsecured revolving credit facilities to $1,125 - $1,445 million depending on the final committed amount of this facility. On a pro forma basis as of December 2017, if this facility is fully drawn and if the proceeds are used to pay down secured indebtedness, DAE’s percentage of unsecured debt would increase from 26% to a range of 31%-34%.”