Amlak Finance, the Sharia-compliant mortgage lender that completed a restructuring of US$2.7 billion worth of debt last year, is on track to resume the trading of its shares on the Dubai Financial Market in the first half of the year, the UAE Minister of Economy said yesterday.
“All of Amlak’s affairs have been put in order,” said Sultan Al Mansouri, adding that it would trade its shares again by the first half of the year.
Amlak's stock has been suspended since 2008.
In August, Amlak reached an agreement with creditors to restructure its debt load. The deal broke the impasse that had hung over the UAE mortgage market since the height of the global financial crisis seven years ago.
Under the auspices of a UAE federal committee set up to oversee the restructuring – of which Mr Al Mansouri is chairman – Amlak last summer said that it had secured unanimous approval from 28 creditors over about $2.7bn of debt and that it hoped to subsequently resume the trading of its shares on the DFM and restart mortgage lending.
In September, Amlak shareholders approved the restructuring proposal at an EGM.
Amlak was an immediate casualty of the credit crunch in 2008 when it was unable to tap global credit markets to service its mortgage business. Protracted negotiations to merge Amlak with its rival mortgage lender Tamweel were finally aborted when the latter was taken over by Dubai Islamic Bank.
To win regulatory approval from the Securities and Commodities Authority to resume trading Amlak must fulfil certain requirements including ratification by shareholders.
selgazzar@thenational.ae
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