Middle East Loans

The head of Oman’s central bank has called for his country's borrowers to embrace capital market funding, with the sovereign widely expected to lead the charge itself with a large bond or sukuk.

Abu Dhabi’s government related entities (GREs) are expected to turn to the loan market this year as redemptions and expansion projects in the region increase the need for funding.

In a secretive deal that has only come to light now, NBAD signed $1bn of tightly priced one year loans with five close relationship banks at the end of last year. The lenders were Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Crédit Agricole, Citigroup, HSBC and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi investment firm, has launched a $2bn loan refinancing and will likely aim for a tight margin despite a choppy Middle East loan market, according to bankers.

Recent Middle East loans that have struggled in syndication indicate some lenders are having second thoughts about the regions’ borrowers just at the point when the latter need the loan market more than ever. The imbalance is about to upset the entire structure of the market, writes Elly Whittaker.

A juicy Middle Eastern project finance loan — for Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) — will be signed by end of next week, according to a banker close to the deal.

Emirates Global Aluminium has still not completed syndication of its $4.9bn seven year loan facility, despite bankers saying that the deal would have closed before the end of last year.

Qatar has signed its $5.5bn five year loan with 13 banks in the syndicate. The six underwriting banks are holding at least $4.2bn of the loan between them, according to a banker on the deal.

Six Japanese lenders have arranged a $1.2bn loan for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) as part of a $3.3bn loan arranged by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to ensure oil supplies for Japanese companies.

The Sultanate of Oman, having returned to the debt market for a $1bn five year loan, has named the banks in the deal's syndicate.

The Sultanate of Oman signed a $1bn five year loan on Tuesday, with 11 banks in the oversubscribed deal, despite the sovereign being hit by a downgrade in the middle of the deal.

Saudi Aramco and China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) are in talks for a new money loan for the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co (Yasref), according to bankers.