Investors from the UAE are part of a global consortium providing Singapore’s Olam Group with a $625 million sharia-compliant financing facility.
Other investors are from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, the company said in a statement. Names of the investors were not disclosed.
The facility, initially guaranteed by Olam Group, will transfer to Olam Agri after the planned initial public offering (IPO) and demerger of Olam Agri. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Olam Group CFO N Muthukumar said that Islamic financing further diversified the group’s funding mix, giving it access to a new investor pool.
Olam Agri is 64.6 percent owned by Olam Group,with the remaining 35.4 percent held by Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC).
The wholly owned unit of the Public Investment Fund acquired the stake for $1.2 billion in March 2022.
Last month Olam Group ruled out listing its agricultural unit on the Saudi stock exchange in the first half of 2024.
A dual IPO on the stock exchanges of Singapore and Saudi Arabia would make Olam Agri the first company to list in both countries and also the first non-Gulf Cooperation Council-incorporated business to list in Saudi Arabia.
Source: agbi