Dubai's Empower repays loan of Dh194m before maturity

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), a district cooling services provider, has prepaid two loan installments of Dh194 million ($52.8 million) prior to their maturity.

The two installments are part of its syndicated loan facility of $600 million and the bilateral loan facility of $127.8 million.

Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO of Empower said: “We have pre-paid the syndicated loan facility installment five months prior its maturity while the bilateral loan facility installment was paid six months before its scheduled date. This reflects the robustness and sustainability of our business model and our prudent financial strategy that is paying off significantly.”

The company has prepaid on July 30, 2015 its syndicated loan installment of Dh147 million ($40 million) which was scheduled to be paid on December 31, 2015. It has also settled on August 4, 2015, an amount of Dh47 million ($12.8 million) representing the bilateral loan installment that was scheduled to be paid on the February 4, 2016.

“We continue to pursue the strategy to finance its projects through an optimal mix of debt and equity to maximise return to its shareholders,” Bin Shafar said, adding, “We have an open dialogue with banks by which it ensures competitive financing for its expansion. We strongly believes that cost effective and ever growing requirement for funding for the district cooling industry is dependent on this continuous dialogue between district cooling companies and local, regional and international banks.”

Empower has adopted the business model of investing in plants and network infrastructure based upon actual demand in a particular project which has ensured sustainable growth and resulted in the growth of the financial performance of the company.

As a result, the company has always settled its obligations as per timelines or ahead of scheduled timelines.

Bin Shafar also said that the growing confidence of banks in financing Empower’s district cooling projects also stems from Dubai’s support to the growth of this industry as the emirate looks at district cooling as a key component of its energy strategy and aims to considerably increase the penetration of district cooling services.

“We will continuously invest in further building our infrastructure and network to cater to the rapidly increasing demand for district cooling in Dubai. We are delighted to settle these two installments ahead of the agreed timelines and we will continue to do as we see fit,” he concluded.

Currently, 746 buildings are using Empower district cooling services, catering to around 50,000 customers. The company operates more than 1 million refrigeration tons (RT), providing environmentally friendly district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments, such as Jumeirah Group, Business Bay, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai International Financial Centre, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Ibn Battuta Mall, Discovery Gardens, Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai World Trade Centre Residences and Dubai Design District, amongst others.
 

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