UAE’s National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) completed a tender offer to repurchase USD 500 mn outstanding trust certificates due in 2025, according to a DFM disclosure (pdf) released on Friday. Some USD 200.7 mn of the trust certificates were accepted for repurchase.
Background: Tabreed announced plans for the buyback in March, after having already repurchased USD 39 mn trust certificates prior to submitting the tender offer. The company’s aggregate face value of repurchased trust certificates — including those already purchased — totals USD 239.7 mn out of the outstanding USD 500 mn trust certificates.
The move comes as Tabreed aims to manage its debt profile and strengthen its balance sheet, the disclosure adds. The company earned shareholder approval in March for a USD 1 bn bond and/or sukuk issuance aimed at funding acquisitions and general corporate purposes sometime over the next year, aiming to up its market share in the UAE and five other countries it is currently operating in, including India, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, and Egypt.