Aldar Properties closed a AED 9 bn sustainability-linked revolving credit facility, marking the largest syndicated loan of its kind secured by a real estate company in the Middle East, according to a statement. It is also — to our knowledge — the second largest s-linked facility for a private issuer in the region, trailing Gems Education’s USD 3.25 bn sustainability-linked loan from last year.

The details: The facility has a five-year tenor and involves both conventional and Islamic tranches in AED and USD. It was arranged at a “historically tight credit spread for Aldar,” the statement said, without disclosing further details on its pricing.

Who pitched in? The syndication attracted orders from 15 international and regional financial institutions, including first-time financiers for Aldar. Participating banks included our friends at Mashreq, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ajman Bank, Bank of China, Citi, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan, National Bank of Kuwait, National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah, and Sharjah Islamic Bank.

This is the second landmark issuance for the developer in as many weeks: Aldar Properties issued USD 1 bn Reg S hybrid capital notes last week — marking the largest conventional hybrid issuance in the Middle East. The orderbook for the issuance was 3.8x oversubscribed, attracting USD 4.9 bn worth of bids from investors. The company is also no stranger to sustainability-linked debt, selling about USD 1 bn of green sukuk over the past two years.

The credit facility boosts Aldar’s liquidity to about AED 27 bn, fueling its growth plans across property developments and investment platforms. This new fund pushes the company’s bank balances and unrestricted money to AED 9.5 bn and undrawn revolving credit facilities to AED 17.4 bn with an average debt maturity of 5.2 years. Moody’s affirmed Aldar’s Baa2 long-term issuer rating earlier this month, according to a statement.

REMEMBER- The developer has big expansion plans: Aldar partnered with Mubadala in September 2024 to develop AED 30 bn Abu-Dhabi-based projects by establishing four joint ventures geared at developing and managing real estate assets. Meanwhile, the company is working on a mixed-use development in Dubai worth over AED 1.75 bn, under a joint venture with Expo City, as part of AED1.8 bn plans to scale its commercial presence in key Dubai business districts. It also allocated AED 1 bn to expand its logistics operations in both emirates, as well as AED 5 bn for commercial, retail, and hospitality assets set to open between 2025 and 2027.

What’s next? The real estate developer is eyeing NCDs: Aldar in December requested board approval last month to issue up to USD 1.5 bn in non-convertible debentures. The issuance will be either perpetual or have a fixed maturity between five to 60 years.

The regional sustainable debt market has gotten a boost recently: Port operator DP World issued the Mena region’s first blue bond, worth USD 100 mn, last month. Our friends at Mashreq also signed sustainability-linked facilities (SLF) with Landmark Retail in Qatar in November, marking the country’s first bilateral SLF agreement in the private sector. Mubadala also listed USD 4.5 bn and AED 750 mn green bonds on the ADX back in January 2024.

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