Middle East Loans
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Only Saudi banks provide facility, as Western banks say the lack of ancillary opportunities makes the business case difficult
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If US interest rate policy is favourable, EMEA lending should spring back
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Having a credit agency on board can help secure a longer tenor, said one loans banker
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Gulf borrowers have the upper hand over banks local and international
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ICBC won the sole mandate without having to pitch
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Bankers look for deals to restart market once interest rates have peaked
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Loan pricing in other parts of EM are creeping higher, but they are falling in the GCC area
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International banks are finding it harder to stomach the prices local rivals can offer
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The sovereign wealth fund achieved huge size but also a rare seven year tenor
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Lenders want to close emerging markets syndications before Christmas
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Rising bond prices pushed borrowers towards loans but that may be changing for some
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Borrowers are reluctant to make deals more complicated when securing any loan is tough
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One of the credit lines will support the state-owned electricity provider's business in Egypt
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Lenders can justify low margins or high risks by the bolt-on business they secure, except in the Gulf region
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Western lenders had planned to stand by Russia until the invasion of Ukraine in February
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Head of corporate finance leaves Abu Dhabi bank after former HSBC regional head arrives to run investment bank
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Gulf state hires HSBC and JP Morgan as sustainability structuring agents for financing framework
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Middle East loans bankers pin hopes on second half of year, as data shows number of signed deals continuing to decline
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ING has promoted Sebastian Frederiks to become head of wholesale banking for the Middle East.
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State-owned Qatar Petroleum was in the bond market on Monday with a multi-tranche bond that included a Formosa issue. Investors, meanwhile, say they expect the sovereign — one of the only Gulf states to have been absent from markets so far this year — to sell bonds imminently.
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The Omani lender Bank Dhofar has secured a loan facility from a consortium of international banks, in a deal led by two regional lenders.
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The number of emerging market syndicated loans is in decline for the fourth year in a row, according to Dealogic data. Bankers' outlooks for the rest of the year err on the pessimistic side, with the fallout from the pandemic being the main concern.
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Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Development Company has raised a green loan, marking the second deal of its kind raised in the kingdom and the first in local currency. Funds will be used to support the development of the country's new tourist attraction, the Red Sea Project.
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Saudi Aramco has raised cash from an investor consortium by leasing a section of its pipelines, following a similar deal from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) last year. Other Middle East oil companies may follow suit amid concerns over the future of the oil prices.
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Professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal has hired a seasoned advisor to bolster its Middle East advisory team, as it seeks to be an integral part of the region's diversification transformation.
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Despite the disruption that the coronavirus pandemic and, more recently, volatility in global markets have brought to emerging market debt, issuers in the CEEMEA region are not backing away from their pivot towards ESG financing. Though concerns about greenwashing are holding the market back, new sustainability-linked and transition structures are tempting issuers.
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Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, has signed a $15bn multi-currency revolving credit facility with a syndicate of 17 international banks. Loan market conditions, participants said, are still attractive for borrowers, despite a drought of deals over the last year.
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Syndicated lending volumes, particularly across emerging markets, have tumbled since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last year. Though some had hopes that 2021 would yield more activity for lending desks, that optimism has been postponed to next year, as lenders say they simply cannot compete with other asset classes for business.
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Saudi Arabia has secured an export financing agreement with Korea’s export credit agency and trade insurance corporation. The deal, which will bolster trade between the two, is the kingdom’s second ECA-backed deal.
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Energean, the London-listed oil and gas company, has signed a $700m loan to develop a gas field off the shore of Israel, as the company enters the final stretch in having the field up and running.
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Qatar National Bank, by assets the largest bank in the Middle East and North Africa, has raised a dual tranche $3.5bn syndicated loan, one of the largest emerging market loans signed this year.
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Two Middle Eastern borrowers are tapping the Asian loan market as part of a new syndication strategy, taking advantage of the slow primary supply in Asia.
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Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (SEWA), a state-owned firm in the United Arab Emirates, is making a rare appearance in the Asian syndicated loan market with a $250m borrowing.
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State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Company has raised a syndicated loan from local lenders worth $3.27bn equivalent. The deal is one of the few major financings to take place in the Middle East during the coronavirus pandemic, and comes at a time when Kuwait faces critical economic challenges.
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A small group of Japanese banks have signed a syndicated facility that will support the funding of a solar power plant in Qatar, which is jointly owned by a consortium of Japanese, French and Qatari firms.
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Saudi Arabia has secured its inaugural green loan backed by an export credit agency (ECA). The deal, which is the first of its kind in the region, may have a domino effect on other sovereigns in the Gulf, said bankers.