Dubai’s JAFZ wins debt plan support

DUBAI - The Associated Press

JAFZ is a free zone in the Jebel Ali area at the far western end of Dubai.

An indebted business park owned by Dubai’s government says it has received sufficient support from lenders to repay $2 billion early as part of a broader refinancing effort.

Jebel Ali Free Zone said in a Nasdaq Dubai statement yesterday that creditors representing about 89 percent of the 7.5 billion dirham sukuk, or Islamic bond, have approved the plan.

JAFZ was supposed to repay the debt this November. It sought agreement from lenders to repay it early so it could put a new refinancing plan in place.

JAFZ operates a sprawling industrial and logistics park next to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, the Mideast’s largest.
Dubai’s ability to refinance this year JAFZ’s debt and that of another company, DIFC Investments, is seen as a key test of the city-state’s financial health. The JAFZ commenced operations in 1985. In 1990 Jafza expanded its facilities to include light industrial units.