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GLOBAL:
UK-based BLME has provided a US$15 million senior secured facility for
Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (VMMEA), the regional mobile
virtual network operator group for Virgin Mobile across Middle East and
Africa.
Structured based on the Murabahah principle, VMMEA will utilize
the facility for the company’s expansion and growth across the GCC region.
The cross-border agreement covers operations across a number of
jurisdictions, including Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and South
Africa, with future roll-outs planned in a number of other countries in
the Middle East and Africa. The documentation of the facility from BLME
has been finalized, with the closing and initial drawdown being
successfully concluded.
In an emailed statement to Islamic Finance news, Massoud
Janekeh, the head of Islamic capital markets at BLME, highlighted: “The
telecommunications sector is witnessing significant growth in the Middle
East, as a result of increased infrastructure investment and development,
particularly in the Gulf states. This is increasingly being supplemented
by the emergence of mobile virtual network operator offerings, which
VMMEA has pioneered.”
Massoud also emphasized that BLME’s involvement in the
transaction highlights the continuous need for Islamic financing products
as well as the bank’s ability to execute transactions across a number of
jurisdictions. Sharing the same sentiments Mikkel Vinter, CEO of VMMEA,
noted that the funding from BLME enables the mobile operator to develop
its business and tap into future growth opportunities.
The present cross-border transaction will further substantiate
BLME’s position with the MENA region with its largest shareholders being
Boubyan Bank, Public Institute for Social Security in Kuwait and AREF
Investments. For the first quarter of 2014, BLME posted total operating
profit before tax of GBP2.9 million (US$4.85 million) and net fee income
of GBP1.45 million (US$2.42 million). Total operating income was GBP16.9
million (US$28.3 million) and total assets were reported at GBP1.2
billion (US$2 billion).
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