Standard Chartered Bank and Noor Islamic Bank have jointly arranged a $46 million, eight-year financing facility for GMMOS subsidiary, Stanford Charter, for refinancing, construction and purchase of a fleet of 12 offshore service vessels (OSV’s).

GMMOS Group is a major regional oil and gas services and industrial group operating in the high growth Gulf and Caspian markets. It is jointly owned by Abraaj Capital and Waha Capital.

This Shari’a compliant facility has specifically been arranged to finance GMMOS’s current and future vessel acquisition programme, said a top company official.

“We are very impressed with both banks’ capabilities in structuring and executing this transaction. The facility meets our group’s current ship financing requirements,’ Elias Nassif, CEO of GMMOS Group, remarked.

’This is our first experience with Islamic financing and it opens a new avenue for our future financing needs,’ he noted.

Nigel Anton, managing director and head of shipping finance, Standard Chartered, said transportation finance was increasingly a core part of the bank’s business and shipping finance was an integral element of the overall transportation segment.

’We are very pleased to be able to arrange a structure which met the many aspects of our client’s requirements. We are very committed to the shipping industry in the Middle East and this transaction which utilises an Islamic finance structure highlights our capabilities,’ he observed.

Hussain Al Qemzi, Group CEO, Noor Islamic Bank, expressed delight at having jointly structured and arranged the syndicated Islamic facility for GMMOS, a major regional player in the oil and gas services.

’This transaction is in line with our strategy to provide comprehensive solutions in structuring and arranging asset backed financing to meet customer needs. As a global Islamic bank, we are honoured to play our role in providing quality and well structured Shari’a-compliant transactions to international capital markets.’

’We are pleased with our partnership with Standard Chartered Bank and look forward to a long and rewarding relationship with them,’ he noted.

Sharing more on the Islamic component of the structure, Afaq Khan, CEO of Standard Chartered Saadiq – the Islamic banking arm of Standard Chartered, said the transaction showed the continued strong demand for Shari’a compliant ship financing solutions.

’This is Standard Chartered Saadiq’s third Islamic ship finance transaction, which demonstrates our growing capabilities in this field,’ he added.-TradeArabia News Service