Aston Martin LBO:Sharia Compliant.
From Gulf in the Media.
You know that saying 'there ought to be a law'? Well, there really should be in this case.
The sale of the iconic Aston Martin car company by Ford Motor Company for 479 million sterling pounds to a consortium led by two Kuwaiti Islamic financial institutions —
The financing package for the sale will be a groundbreaking Islamic financing facility, which will be the first of its kind to finance the acquisition of a major asset in the UK.
Done on a SHARIAH-COMPLIANT basis???
You know that saying 'there ought to be a law'? Well, there really should be in this case.
The sale of the iconic Aston Martin car company by Ford Motor Company for 479 million sterling pounds to a consortium led by two Kuwaiti Islamic financial institutions —
The financing package for the sale will be a groundbreaking Islamic financing facility, which will be the first of its kind to finance the acquisition of a major asset in the UK.
Done on a SHARIAH-COMPLIANT basis???
The TID/Al-Deem-led consortium is buying Aston Martin from Ford on a leverage basis. To what extent Aston Martin as a company is leveraged, is not clear. It will have a bearing on the type of structure used to finance the acquisition, which is essentially a private equity deal. The level of conventional interest-based debt on its books could affect the deal if it is done on a Shariah-compliant basis.
Groundbreaking deal...
The latest facts are that the sale of Aston Martin has been agreed and accepted by Ford worth about 479 million pounds; that Aston Martin will remain a UK company and manufacturing out of the UK; and that the financing package for the sale will be a ground-breaking Islamic financing facility, which will be the first of its kind to finance the acquisition of a major asset in the UK. Islamic legal scholars have over the years come under fire for allowing deals especially in corporate finance or real estate transactions where the primary deal is Shariah-compliant but any additional financing facilities could be conventional.
Legal environment is in their favor and transactions can now easily be done, Islamically.
Lawyers specializing in structuring Islamic financing transactions at the City law firms agree that in a jurisdiction such as England, there is no excuse because the English tax and legal environment “is in your favor” and the whole transactions can now easily be done Islamically, including any secondary financing requirements.
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