La Française AM launches first Sharia OPCI in France
La Française AM has launched the first Sharia compliant OPCI - collective real estate vehicles with simplified investment rules with leverage - into the French market as part of the financing of an office building jointly owned by a Kuwaiti bank.
La Française AM has launched the first Sharia compliant OPCI – collective real estate vehicles with simplified investment rules with leverage – into the French market as part of the financing of an office building jointly owned by a Kuwaiti bank.
The €46m building has been leased to France Telecom for ten years. The leveraging of the deal was partly done by way of a Murabaha, a Sharia compliant loan structured to avoid interest payments.
La Française AM has been working with the Kuwaiti bank since 2010 to focus on Sharia compliant property projects in France. The bank wants to remain anonymous, La Française AM said, but it has selected France as a key part of its global investment allocation.
Patrick Rivière, chief executive of La Française AM, said: “With this innovative operation, La Française AM positions itself as a natural partner for non-domestic real estate investors targeting the French market.”
