TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA QATAR Shipping SPC, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Milaha (Qatar Navigation QSC), has secured a 10-year $110 million (equivalent to QR 400 million) ship financing facility with the QNB Group. Proceeds from the facility will be utilised by Qatar Shipping to fund the ongoing construction of 19 harbour assistance vessels.

The vessels will be deployed in Mesaieed Port on a 20-year QR1.8 billion contract signed with Qatar Petroleum in 2011.

The financing was arranged by Milaha Capital, another wholly-owned Milaha subsidiary, which provides corporate finance advisory services to the group as part of its mandate.

The financing agreement was signed by Milaha’s President and CEO Khalifa bin Ali al Hetmi and General Manager, Corporate Banking, QNB Group, Abdulla Mubarak al Khalifa.

Also in attendance were senior executives from Milaha, its subsidiaries and QNB.

Speaking on the occasion, al Hetmi said “This is the second ship financing agreement signed this year as part of a series of financing arrangements the company has been planning for 2012. Debt financing is key to funding our growth plans and we at Milaha recognise this facility with a leading bank like QNB as a token of trust in the company’s solid foundation, performance, and strong future prospects. We are very pleased to be able to build on our long-standing and extensive relationship with QNB across a number of our business units.” Abdulla Mubarak al Khalifa said that QNB enjoyed a longstanding strategic business relationship with Milaha and was proud to be the financing bank for this significant acquisition.

“This relationship does emphasise the importance of QNB Group’s role in supporting and building the economy and its contribution to the development plans and investment of Qatar and to the promotion of efficiency through the diversity of projects funded by the group.

“This milestone agreement also makes the QNB Group a major and reliable source of financing development projects and a major base to improve the communities in all sectors,” al Khalifa added.