Ashurst in first Shari'ah compliant real estate financing in Aus

Ashurst finance partner Jamie Ng has led a team that has completed the first Shari'ah compliant murabaha (a form of credit sale) in Australia.

The structured financing arrangement enabled a commodity transaction to finance an interest in a Melbourne property by Tabung Haji, one of Malaysia’s largest pension funds. Ashurst acted for Tabung Haji on the deal, as well as investment manager CIMB-TrustCapital.

Parallel considerations

While the financing structure must adhere to Shari’ah principles, the governing law of the relevant transaction documents is the law of the relevant jurisdiction in which the transaction takes place.

Growing trend
 
According to Mr Ng, the demand for Shari’ah compliant financing, especially in the real estate sector, is a growing trend driven by both Australian and off shore investors. Source: Australasian Lawyers

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