ABC reports successful closing of $750m loan facility

Arab Banking Corporation (BSC) (ABC) has announced the successful closing of a $750 million syndicated term loan facility.
The initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners are HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd., National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Natixis and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. National Bank of Abu Dhabi is the facility agent and HSBC acted as the coordinating bank.
The three-year facility will be used for general corporate funding purposes and carries a margin of 120 basis points over LIBOR.
Syndication was launched in an initial amount of $500 million and closed significantly oversubscribed, raising in excess of $800 million from 17 leading international and regional banks.
Closing was marked by a signing ceremony at the Capital Club, DIFC, Dubai on Thursday. The ceremony was attended by ABC’s Executive Vice President and Group Chief Banking Officer Ray Ferguson and members of ABC’s executive management team.
At the signing ceremony, Ferguson said: “We are delighted by the success of this syndication and extremely appreciative of the strong demonstration of support for ABC we have received from the 17 leading institutions in the bank market who have joined in this important transaction. The banks here today represent financial institutions from across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.”
On behalf of the mandated lead arrangers, Jonathan Robinson, regional head of global banking MENA, HSBC, said: “ABC’s first syndication since 2007 has been subscribed by a high quality group of 17, geographically diverse relationship banks. This successful outcome bears testament to the solid institutional stature of ABC.”