How N8bn Sukuk funding will modernize Abuja’s Bungalow City

A few days ago, Brains and Hammers Limited, a real estate developer, announced an N8 billion Sukuk funding from the private capital market through a group of lenders in the private sector backed by ARM and Fidelity Bank. A sukuk (an Arabic name for financial certificates), according to Investopedia, “is a sharia-compliant bond-like instruments used […]

A few days ago, Brains and Hammers Limited, a real estate developer, announced an N8 billion Sukuk funding from the private capital market through a group of lenders in the private sector backed by ARM and Fidelity Bank.

A sukuk (an Arabic name for financial certificates), according to Investopedia, “is a sharia-compliant bond-like instruments used in Islamic finance that involves a direct asset ownership interest. The issuer of a sukuk essentially sells an investor group a certificate, and then uses the proceeds to purchase an asset that the investor group has direct partial ownership interest in.”

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Brains and Hammers Limited is a real estate company that develops infrastructure, hospitality, commercial and residential properties in Nigeria.

The company, in the announcement, said the “funding firmly puts the company on course to deliver on its aggressive growth plan in affordable housing across the country.”

The developer reiterated that the fund will expedite the delivery of the mega 4,500 units Bungalow City in Abuja, to aid bridge huge housing deficit for the low-income earners.

Chairman, Brains and Hammers, Mr. Adebola Sheidu, said the sukuk investment will revolutionize the Bungalow City, which sits on about 200 hectares of land.

“With Phase 1 of the Bungalow City project nearing completion in less than one year after construction started, the 1, 2, and 3-bedroom housing units are proof that we are not just at the forefront of providing affordable housing development in Nigeria, we are building infrastructures as well.  The on-going construction of a 3.8km access road and over 3km internal road network within Phase 1 of the project is a pointer to that fact.”

“This infrastructural development is supported with recreational facilities including schools, banks, a business hub, and a shopping mall, accentuating Brains & Hammers’ commitment to creating a healthy Live, Work & Play environment around their mega projects across the country,” he explained.

According to Mr. Sheidu, the project is in good posture to create more than “one thousand direct, indirect, and ancillary jobs during construction and upon its completion, thereby creating a large-scale economic impact beyond the provision of affordable housing and infrastructure.”

Sources in the company who were not authorized to speak on the issue, said the developer was set to replicate and take further what the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, did when he first opened up Gwarinpa District in Abuja.

They said the construction of the Bungalow City is in conjunction with the Federal Mortgage Bank with a flexible payment system that will make housing affordable for Nigerians.

The company said it has about 10,000 housing units under construction in about 17 gated communities across the country.