ENBD REIT, a shari’a-compliant real estate investment trust managed by Emirates NBD Asset Management, has announced plans to proceed with the listing of its shares on Nasdaq Dubai, the region’s international financial exchange.

This will be the second real estate investment trust (REIT) to be listed on a Emirati bourse, it said.

ENBD REIT said it will first apply for admission of its ordinary shares to the official list of securities of the Dubai Financial Services Authority and to trading on Nasdaq Dubai.

The investment assets of ENBD REIT have been re-domiciled to the DIFC from the Jersey, Channel Islands open-ended real estate fund, Emirates Real Estate Fund (Jersey Fund), which was originally established in 2005, it added.

On the listing, Tariq Bin Hendi, the director of ENBD REIT, said: "This will be only the second real estate investment trust to be listed on a UAE stock exchange, and it is the opinion of ENBD REIT’s directors that the re-domiciliation and listing will allow improved liquidity and greater flexibility for the fund manager to manage the investment trust."

ENBD REIT is currently focused on the UAE and based on the performance of Jersey Fund has demonstrated a strong 11-year track record, which included a consistent dividend payout history of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent every year (on an annualised basis, save for one semi-annual period in 2011 when a capital distribution was made instead of a dividend payment), noted Bin Hendi.

The real estate assets of the trust have a total valuation of $314 million, with a net leasable area (NLA) of 872,518 sq ft, as of September 30, 2016, he added.

It has a diversified asset portfolio, currently comprising seven income-generating properties in Dubai diversified across office and residential assets in strategic locations.

Anthony Taylor, the fund manager, Real Estate at Emirates NBD Asset Management, said: "The improved capital structure of real estate trust will mean there is less of a requirement to retain cash for the purposes of managing liquidity in the event of investor withdrawals, which are not permitted in a closed-ended vehicle of this type, but were a requirement in the open-ended structure."

"In the long-term, this should help ENBD REIT to achieve its objective of remaining more fully invested, subject to market and other conditions, with the goal of achieving improved long-term returns for its shareholders," he added.-TradeArabia News Service