Emirates Hires Banks to Arrange $517 Million in Islamic Debt
February 08, 2012, 1:15 AM ESTBy Dana El Baltaji
(Updates with Emirates confirmation on financing.)
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Emirates, the world’s largest airline by international traffic, plans to raise 1.9 billion dirhams ($517 million) from an Islamic financing facility to help purchase three aircraft.
The airline hired Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, Al Hilal Bank and Ajman Bank PJSC to arrange the 12-year Ijara facility to buy planes including Boeing 777-300ERs and Airbus A380s, it said in an e-mailed statement today. Al Bayan reported the news earlier today.
Emirates is building the world’s largest fleet of Airbus superjumbo jets to establish Dubai as a long-haul travel hub and win passengers from Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The Dubai-based airline is one of the biggest buyers of Airbus SAS A380 superjumbos and the Boeing 777s, and in November signed a deal valued at $18 billion with Boeing Co.
The airline raised $1 billion from the sale of a five-year bond in June. The yield on the 5.125 percent bond rose two basis points today to 4.99 percent, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.
--With assistance from Tamara Walid in Abu Dhabi . Editors: Shaji Mathew, Claudia Maedler
To contact the reporter on this story: Dana El Baltaji in Dubai at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
