Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) will provide an $80 million Sharia-compliant Ijarah facility to Oman Shipping Company (OSC), a member of the ASYAD Group, to finance two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) tankers within the OSC group.

The deal marks OSC's first Sharia-based leasing Ijarah and reflects ADIB's continuous commitment and ability to finance significant assets in the fields of marine and energy, according to a press release on Sunday.

The facility will enable OSC to promote its debt position by reducing the overall financing costs and eliminating refinancing risk. This will be carried out simultaneously with the ongoing efforts in diversifying the Omani firm's pool of financial partners.

“ADIB has significant experience and expertise working on Middle East shipping deals across the full range of industry segments. Over the years, we have been able to add significant value to partners across a wide range of innovative structures in terms of both bilateral and syndicated facilities,” said the head of Ship Finance at ADIB, Christopher Phillips.

Established in 2003, OSC is an international full-scale shipping company with a well-diversified fleet of 53 modern vessels owned and chartered-in. Its business investments and growth strategy concord with the strategic maritime transportation interests of the sultanate’s rapidly industrialising economy.

At the level of the Islamic Capital Markets, ADIB acted as a Joint Lead Manager and Bookrunner on a number of high profile Sukuk mandates, including Majid al Futtaim’s first-ever Green Corporate Sukuk and Warba bank.