Dubai’s Emicool signs $216 million Islamic loan

Dubai-based Emirates District Cooling, also known as Emicool, is a joint venture between Dubai Investments and Union Properties. The company signed a 793 million dirham ($216 million) Islamic loan guaranteed by both parents, a statement said on Sunday.

Structured in a sharia-compliant manner, the facility runs for ten years, according to the statement from Mashreq, one of the banks providing finance.

The cash will be used to refinance a 668 million dirham bridge loan and other facilities raised with banks on an individual basis, which funded construction of cooling plants in the Motor City and Dubai Investment Park areas of the emirate.

The facility will “help realize our long-term expansion goals such as investing in infrastructure,” Abdul Aziz Bin Yagub al-Serkal, chairman of Emicool, said in the statement.

The seven banks which participated in the original bridge loan signed up to the new transaction, the Mashreq statement said, although it didn’t name the other banks.

Dubai’s district cooling companies provide air conditioning using a central production point to feed chilled air into areas and buildings, as opposed to using separate conditioning units in individual rooms, which would be much more expensive.