NCB has been supporting Tibah consortium for Madina International Airport. Besides providing bulk of financing, NCB is the Islamic Structuring Bank in this landmark deal. This is the first Islamically structured International Airport financing in the world. Shari’ah compliant financing is primarily asset-based. However critical infrastructure such as airports are essentially owned by governments. The private entities only receive development and operating rights for a finite period. This made the Islamic structuring all the more challenging. Despite these constraints, an unprecedented structure is designed to ensure its compliance with shariah and maintaining the project’s bankability for the sponsors at the same time.
“NCB is committed to supporting the Kingdom’s infrastructure development. Besides leading Islamic finance in other segments, I am glad NCB also maintains its leadership position in shari’ah complaint Infrastructure financing,” said Corporate Sector Head Al Sharief Khalid. (Press Release)