Leading Gulf Islamic investment company GII takes a majority stake in pioneering UK bridge finance provider OFFA

Leading Gulf Islamic investment company GII takes a majority stake in pioneering UK bridge finance provider OFFA

Britain’s first Sharia-compliant short-term bridge finance provider OFFA is setting its sights on major expansion after securing a multi-million pound investment from the UAE’s Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), which has taken a 51% stake in the start-up.

OFFA’s senior team already includes some of the most experienced names in UK Islamic finance, namely Executive Chairman Sultan Choudhury OBE, who founded Al Rayan Bank, Chief Financial Officer Amir Firdaus, who launched the UK first ever public Sukuk (Islamic bond) worth £250m, and Chief Commercial Officer Sagheer Malik, who developed a multi-channel distribution of more than £1bn of Sharia compliant property finance. The funding will enable OFFA to deepen and broaden its presence in the UK’s Islamic property bridge finance market, which is estimated to be worth £500m annually.