Barwa Bank Extends Islamic Banking Facilities to Al Meera

Doha, September 10 (QNA) - Al Meera Consumer Goods Company announced that Barwa Bank has extended the Company Islamic banking facilities amounting to QR 900 Million. Al Meera said in a satement posted on Qatar Exchange that the facilities will be used to repay all existing bank debts in full, and to finance future expansion and acquisition plans of the Company and its Subsidiaries. Al Meera Consumer Goods and its subsidiaries said on Sunday they incorporated futuristic mall strategy as part of its aggressive domestic expansion plan this year. "To facilitate our future expansion plans in the country, we are going for shopping mall concept which might be differentiated into two types: community and neighbourhood ones," said Al Meera Consumer Goods deputy CEO Mohamed al-Qahtani. The community model is a large-scale supermarket that, in addition to traditional groceries, will include additional services such as banks, food court and laundromats , he said. The neighbourhood model is a convenience store, catering to the immediate vicinity with groceries and basic services, such as dry cleaners and pharmacies, he said. "Using this model, 2013 will see more Al Meera outlets opening throughout the country," he said, asserting that Qatar has always been and will always be its primary market. Accordingly, over 60,000sqm of Al Meera s community and neighbourhood shopping mall are already under development, most of which are expected to open sometime during the next three years, he said. The Laqtafia outlet, a 4,000sqm neighbourhood shopping mall, is to break ground in the coming weeks, he said, adding regulators have given the go-ahead to begin development of the Al Dakira shopping mall. "Since the beginning of this year, Al Meera has expanded its retail space by over 10,000sqm. The Abu Nakhla shopping Mall (5,000sqm) and airport road hypermarket (also 5,000sqm) are already up and running." (QNA)