Middle East Loans

Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) has set pricing terms and drawn as many as 20 banks for a $1.8bn seven year loan.

Commercial International Bank in Egypt has obtained a $50m trade facility from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme.

This year saw Middle Eastern banks provide some diversity in retail liquidity, opening their books to syndicated loans for Chinese and Indonesian names after having long been contributors to deals from India’s oil and gas sector. But their appetite could well be rocked by the precipitous decline in oil prices, as their deposits are heavily reliant on the natural resource, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Emaar the Economic City, a subsidiary of Emaar International charged with developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia, has signed an SR1.2bn ($319.8m) eight year murabaha facility with Alinma Bank.

The Egyptian General Petroleum Corp is seeking a three year term loan for $1.5bn, the first syndicated loan it has obtained with local and foreign banks since 2010, said a banker on the deal.

Marafiq, a Saudi utility service provider has signed a SR2.5bn ($666m) Islamic loan to expand its existing operations and fund future activities.

Kuwaiti oil company Kufpec has signed a $1bn five year term loan with a syndicate of banks.

HSBC is to see a senior departure from its loans business in the United Arab Emirates.

Bahraini Islamic lender Ibdar Bank has completed a $100m financing deal with Ethiopian Airlines to acquire four new aircraft, which marks the first Sharia compliant transaction in Africa’s aviation industry.

Zakher Marinte International, a UAE gas and oil service provider, has agreed a $420m Shariah compliant loan with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB).

Advanced Petrochemical Company has repaid the remaining Sr375m of a murabaha loan.

Saudi Kayan, a Saudi Arabia petrochemical company, announced this week that it had signed a murabaha facility with National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group.