Middle East Loans

Saudi Arabian fashion retailer Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair has raised an $800m multi-currency loan with a consortium of local lenders.

Omani gas transportation company, Oman Gas Co, a branch of state-owned Oman Oil Co, has sold an $800m credit facility to local lenders.

Drinks group C&C to sell US PPs as Irish firms return — Almarai feasts on $100m for MENA expansion — Lufthansa flies by Schuldschein market for short dated debt — Archer plots loan A&E — Greencoat UK draws debt for wind farm buy

Saudi Arabian food and beverage producer Almarai has secured a $100m loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to support expansion in Egypt and Jordan.

Nabil Lahham has joined HSBC to head up advisory and corporate finance coverage for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. He was most recently at Perella Weinberg Partners.

Bahrain Steel to lock in better conditions in refi — Saudi sparks life into local loan mart — Cranfield University soft-sounds private placement market — Golding Homes looks to add hundreds of houses with £120m facility — Great Portland brings ESG loans to UK Reits

Saudi Arabia's Saline Water Conversion Corp (SWCC) signed a $426.5m-equivalent loan with a consortium of local lenders. The deal comes after a disappointing year for international lenders, who were dismayed at the lower than expected volumes of Saudi Arabian activity.

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has raised a $600m syndicated facility, which replaces a number of uncommitted bilateral loans.

Bahraini iron pellet producer Bahrain Steel is in discussions with lenders to refinance an existing facility, according to bankers. The deal, some say, is part of a broader trend among emerging market borrowers seeking to secure more attractive conditions.

Market participants at the Euromoney Sustainability MENA Conference in Dubai this week highlighted the importance of regulation as a driving force that could propel progress in sustainable finance.

Lenders are disappointed at the low levels of activity so far this year in the Middle East. The region’s loans market, which struggled last year to match 2018 volumes, will continue to struggle against the booming bond market, according to bankers.

The risk that huge amounts of oil and gas assets will be stranded by moves to tackle the climate emergency may be more pertinent for sovereign credit than for private sector corporate debt, according to new research.