DUBAI A subsidiary of IFA Hotels and Resorts has secured US$115 million in funding to complete Fairmont Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, which is about 60% complete.
The three-year loan facility, which was structured and arranged by Standard Chartered Bank, will allow Kuwait-based IFA to speed the project’s completion to the first quarter of 2012. The loan was secured by IFA Hotel Investments, the firm’s asset management subsidiary company.
The financing is the first new foreign-bank funding for a Dubai hotel development in quite some time, and analysts say it is proof of renewed confidence in the region and the hotel industry.
“The agreement not only demonstrated the strengthening of our relationship with the bank and is therefore great news for our company, for our investors and for the Fairmont Palm Jumeirah hotel, but will also have a positive impact on the UAE real estate industry as a whole,” says Talal Jassim Al-Bahar, vice chairman and CEO of IFA Hotels and Resorts.