First Energy Bank affords a US$34 million Murabahah facility to Kore Coal Finance - IFN

First Energy Bank affords a US$34 million Murabahah facility to Kore Coal Finance

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GLOBAL: Bahrain-based First Energy Bank (FEB) has provided Kore Coal Finance (KCF) a Murabahah financing facility worth EUR25 million (US$34 million). KCF is a subsidiary of Sapinda Holding, a privately-owned investment company in the Netherlands. The Murabahah facility is structured on the basis of an attractive return and will be repaid by October 2016. It acts as a supplementary source of funding to a EUR55 million (US$74.81 million) conventional profit participation note recently concluded by KCF. The financing scheme seeks to assist Sapinda in enhancing its investments in an internationally operating resource company which owns coal mining assets in South Africa. Commenting on the deal, Mohamed Ghanem, the bank’s CEO said: “This transaction marks the long-term commitment of FEB to seize attractive and income-generating opportunities.” Complementing Ghanem’s remarks, Tarun Puri, the head of investment management at FEB, notes that the bank looks to further diversify in asset classes which can generate similar sustained income streams. Licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, FEB is a Shariah compliant investment bank which focuses on the production, transportation, storage and refining of hydrocarbons, as well as oilfield services and energy sector technologies. The bank's shareholders include organizations and individuals with interests in the energy sector from Bahrain, Libya, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other regional countries. Established in the Netherlands with a main office in London, Sapinda is an investment holding company focusing on oil and gas, agriculture, mining, and technology.