Dubai – Mubasher: GEMS MENASA Cayman Ltd, a subsidiary of UAE-based GEMS Education, on Tuesday announced the successful redemption of $200 million in sukuk.
The GEMS sukuk were issued as 12% subordinated perpetual certificates at the first call date of 21 November 2018, resulting in the repayment to Sukuk holders shortly thereafter, the leading K-12 education business operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) revealed in a statement.
Following the repayment, GEMS has sought to delist its GEMS Sukuk from NASDAQ Dubai and the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE), it said, noting that the sukuk issuance was issued by its subsidiary GEMS MEA Sukuk Limited in November 2013. The sukuk were called for repayment at the first call date, approximately five years after the issue date.
“The GEMS Sukuk was a landmark transaction for our business, and represented our first access to the international capital markets,” commented Dino Varkey, CEO of GEMS Education.
He explained that when GEMS raised the Sukuk in 2013, the business had 37 schools under operation, educating 79,000 students. In the five years after the sukuk were issued, GEMS was able to expand significantly to now operate 49 schools and education over 124,000 students in the MENA region.
GEMS’ top official further highlighted the $200 million sukuk had “contributed significantly to this growth.”
“We are proud to repay our inaugural Sukuk as we were to join the market back in 2013. We are incredibly thankful to our partners at NASDAQ Dubai and the [ISE], but principally grateful to our Sukuk holders who have placed their trust in our business and supported us in this journey,” Varkey concluded.
