Dubai – Mubasher: National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) has raised $700 million through an inaugural, five-year green Sukuk, which marks the first issuance under its new $1.50 billion trust certificate issuance programme.
The new Sukuk will be listed and traded on London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) International Securities Market, according to a press release.
The issuance of new green Sukuk attracted strong institutional demand from high quality local, regional, and international investors, which led to the order books exceeding 4.3 times and final issue being oversubscribed by nearly 2.6 times, reflecting the high level of investor confidence in Tabreed’s robust credit fundamentals.
The Sukuk was competitively priced with a profit rate of 5.279%, achieving the highest tightening by any investment grade regional Sukuk issuance this year and the tightest ever credit spread for a five-year instrument by Tabreed and or any other UAE corporate Sukuk with a similar credit rating.
Proceeds from the Sukuk issue will be used in alignment with Tabreed’s Green Financing Framework, which was first published in March 2022 and later updated in February 2025.
It is worth highlighting that this high demand was supported by investment grade credit ratings from Moody’s (Baa3) and Fitch (BBB), consistent with Tabreed’s corporate ratings.
Citi and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Global Coordinators while Citi, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners, with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) acting as Co-Manager.
In 2006, Tabreed’s $200 million Sukuk issuance was the first to be listed on the LSE, which paved the way for other issuers to follow. That issuance was also the first rated Sukuk by a corporate entity in the Middle East.
The CEO of Tabreed, Khalid Al Marzooqi, said: “Tabreed’s enviable reputation is built on the foundations of sustainability and operational excellence, so this, our first green Sukuk, is perfectly aligned with our existing business while focusing on new developments.”
Al Marzooqi added: “The UAE has an ambitious roadmap for net-zero and we are proud at Tabreed to play a vital role in preventing large scale carbon emissions while enabling societal progress through sustainable district cooling. The importance this company attaches to ESG cannot be overstated and our investors know that the energy transition, of which we are at the very centre, is not only good for the environment but good for business, too.”
Tabreed recently released its full-year financial results for 2024, delivering strong financial performance driven by local and international expansion, new connections with existing clients and development of greenfield sites.
