Middle East Loans

Head of corporate finance leaves Abu Dhabi bank after former HSBC regional head arrives to run investment bank

Gulf state hires HSBC and JP Morgan as sustainability structuring agents for financing framework

Middle East loans bankers pin hopes on second half of year, as data shows number of signed deals continuing to decline

ING has promoted Sebastian Frederiks to become head of wholesale banking for the Middle East.

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.

The Omani lender Bank Dhofar has secured a loan facility from a consortium of international banks, in a deal led by two regional lenders.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.