Tamweel, the largest provider of real estate finance in the UAE, will enter into a $220 million asset-backed issuance of notes, a company official said.

The senior notes, he said, are expected to be assigned a rating of Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by Fitch Ratings Limited.

These ratings would be the highest outstanding ratings assigned by international rating agencies for an asset portfolio originated by a UAE-based institution in the Middle East and North Africa region.

As a tiered, multi-class structure, this landmark issue, which was vetted by Tamweel’s Sharia advisory board, will be one of the first securitisations of its type globally.

Tamweel CEO Adel Al Shirawi said: “We believe that such strong ratings from international rating agencies such as Moody’s and Fitch are a clear indication that an originator like Tamweel, can generate a high-quality portfolio that can meet world class standards.'

He said this was indeed a landmark occasion for Tamweel and equally for the UAE and the region.

“Backed by the quality of our asset book, our superior risk management, and such strong ratings from Moody’s and Fitch, we now expect to have access to even lower-cost funds from international and institutional investors with higher tenors,” Shirawi said.

He pointed out that Tamweel's tapping into international funds coincides with the company's regional expansion plans, providing better and cheaper funding mechanisms for the regional-based assets.

'We expect that Tamweel is at least two years ahead of competition in this domain,” he observed.

Tamweel has appointed Emirates National Securitization Corporation, a leading structured finance house based in Dubai, to structure the proposed transaction.

Tamweel has appointed Morgan Stanley & Company International as joint manager, joint book-runner and provider of hedging solutions.

Standard Chartered Bank will be joint manager, joint book-runner and provider of a liquidity facility for this proposed transaction, he added. TradeArabia News Service