Arada raises an incremental $50 million via successful second tap of existing $450 million sukuk

Concluded deal follows debut $350 million issuance in June, and a first $100 million tap in October

Arada has successfully closed a $50 million second tap of its existing $450 million sukuk, which was issued last June and listed on the London Stock Exchange. The five-year tap is the UAE developer’s third approach to the capital markets in the last nine months and the investor reoffer yield was 8.448%.

Arada’s second tap follows a first tap executed in October 2022 for US$100 million. At that time, Arada had received an exceptional response from international debt capital markets, which led to an oversubscribed transaction with orders of $185 million. As part of Arada’s continuing investor engagement and interaction, more recently via extensive roadshows across the UK and GCC before the October tap, this tap issue was executed on the back of investor feedback and enquiries.

Mashreq acted as sole Manager and Bookrunner for the second tap.

Ahmed Alkhoshaibi, Group CEO of Arada, said: “We’re extremely happy to have achieved a size of $500 million on our inaugural sukuk via the last two tap transactions. This achievement is testament to the fact that investors have been tracking our story since May last year and have begun to appreciate and acknowledge our investor proposition, good governance record and credit strength.

“We’re especially pleased to have reached benchmark size of this instrument, which will further enhance the liquidity and trading of our paper. I’d also like to put on record our thanks to Mashreq as the sole arranger on this tap, and for being part of all three transactions in our debut issuance.”

Arada’s existing five-year fixed rate RegS debut Sukuk issuance was rated BB- by Fitch and B1 by Moody’s.

The proceeds for the sukuk will be used for general corporate purposes and to support development at Arada’s existing projects.

Last May, Moody’s and Fitch assigned Arada first-time credit ratings, of B1 and B+ respectively, both with a stable outlook.

Since its launch in 2017, Arada has launched four successful master planned projects in Sharjah and Dubai, with a combined sales value of AED37 billion, which are setting a new standard for integrated community living in the UAE.

The developer recorded a 46% increase in the total value of property sold in 2022 against the previous year to AED3.51 billion. In total, Arada has sold over 11,000 units since inception, valued at over AED10 billion. The developer has completed 6,800 units, with another 23,200 homes in the pipeline.