Middle East Loans

The Ranger went on the hunt for meditating bankers and found that each in the market has their own definition of inner peace.

Senior loans bankers report they are working through the night to cope with the surge in Middle East loans, as even the Sultanate of Oman piled into the market to grab funding while it can. After all, the conditions will not last, writes Elly Whittaker.

The Sultanate of Oman is tapping the loan market for $500m, its first loan in eight years, as the formerly cash-rich country faces a fiscal deficit.

Thursday may be bonfire night in the UK but all the fireworks in the loan market were taking place in the Middle East this week, as Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) launched a $800m loan alongside three other banks and with a loan for Oman also in the pipeline.

Kuwait petrochemicals firm Equate is due to close a $6bn one year loan by early December that will include an Islamic financing component.

Peter Bakos has joined the debt finance group at Bank Muscat in Dubai to head its cross border business development.

Egypt’s Banque Misr has completed the two month long senior syndication process for its $250m three year loan and launched general syndication on Sunday.

Kuwait petrochemicals firm Equate is in the market for a $6bn one year loan after signing a $3.2bn deal to buy ME Global last week.

Teva, the New York-listed Israeli pharmaceutical company, held a meeting with banks on Wednesday for the syndication of $33.75bn of loans to buy generic drug business Allergan Generics.

Teva, the Israeli pharmaceutical company, will hold a meeting with banks on Wednesday for the syndication of $33.75bn of loans it is using to buy generic drug business Allergan Generics.

Istanbul Airport — Yapi Kredi — Ezdan

Abu Dhabi’s Union National Bank (UNB) signed its latest $750m loan in the nick of time, ahead of a widening margins for Middle Eastern loans, bankers say.