Dawood Hercules gets Rs 8.5 billion Shariah-compliant loan: agreement inked with MBL and HBL

Dawood Hercules Chemicals Limited (DHCL) has awarded the mandate for arrangement of Rs 8.5 billion through Shariah-compliant facilities to Meezan Bank Limited (MBL) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL). This represents the largest amount to be arranged by a corporate firm in Pakistan through Islamic products.
The financing will be arranged through multiple structures, each specifically tailored to meet specific objectives of the company and the institutions extending the facilities. DHCL has awarded the mandate with the objective of converting its financing arrangements to conform to Shariah principles.
In this regard a signing ceremony was held between MBL, HBL and DHCL at a hotel here on Tuesday. The agreement was inked by Irfan Siddiqui, President & CEO of MBL, Zakir Mehmood, President of HBL and Hussain Dawood, Chairman of Dawood Group. Justice Taqi Ahmed Usmani was also present on this occasion.
HBL and MBL are the lead arrangers, whereas Meezan Bank will act as Shariah structuring agent for this transaction. The transaction is the first step by the Dawood Group towards the group's stated objective of propagating Islamic baking.
DHCL is the flagship company of the Dawood Group and will be the first company in the group to take this initiative of converting from conventional financing to Shariah-compliant mode of financing. The Dawood Group is a diversified conglomerate involved in fertiliser manufacturing and marketing, textile, information technology, brokerage and insurance sector.
MBL and HBL, by providing DHCL with the innovative financial solution, have demonstrated their commitment to providing comprehensive Islamic banking solutions. Irfan Siddiqui said that this Islamic finance facility of Rs 8.5 billion was the largest mandate awarded to date in the corporate sector of Pakistan.
He said that MBL is now active towards financing the capital needs of industry, and the historic deal with Dawood Group was a sign of bank's commitment to spread the Islamic mode of banking. MBL is pioneer in launching Islamic financing in Pakistan and it would continue to spread Islamic mode of financing for industrial and individual needs.
Zakir said that HBL has started its Islamic banking operation. However, HBL will launch a full-fledged Islamic banking operation through its fully owned subsidiary.
He said that most of the people want Islamic mode of financing, and HBL would provide the people both mode of financing. Hussain Dawood said that they can take finance facility by conventional banks easily but they preferred the Islamic mode of financing. "We want to take Islamic mode of financing for other companies of our group", he added.