Many bondholders at Dubai’s Emirates REIT oppose $400m Sukuk conversion plan

Many bondholders at Dubai’s Emirates REIT oppose $400m Sukuk conversion plan

Dubai: Dubai-based real estate fund operator Emirate REIT’s plans to issue a new debt offering is meeting “significant resistance” from a “majority” of its existing bondholders, highly placed sources have told ‘Gulf News’. These bondholders have called a virtual meeting later today to discuss the options available to them, including legal means, these sources add. “We believe that there is a widely recognized view that the company (Emirates REIT) proposal, in its current form, largely fails to address the long-standing concerns regarding other core issues,” said a source at one bondholder holding exposure in a $400 million, five-year Sukuk issued in late 2017. These bondholders represent some of the biggest names in the global and local institutional investment space. It was on Saturday that - which operates properties such as the prestigious Index Tower in DIFC and GEMS Academy in its portfolio – said it “seeks to exchange” its current unsecured Sukuk certificates with new secured ones at the “same profit rates”. The effective profit rate would be maintained at 5.125 per cent, albeit extending the maturity by two years. The replacement Sukuk certificates would mature in 2024 as against the 2022 on the previous issue. This is what brought