Emirates Global Aluminium secures $6.5bn loan

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), one of the largest industrial companies in the United Arab Emirates, said on Thursday it had secured a $6.5bn seven-year loan from a group of international and regional banks to refinance part of its debt.

The loan refinances an existing $4.9bn debt facility agreed in December 2015 and will also be used to fully repay a $1.8bn loan raised by EGA’s subsidiary Dubai Aluminium.

“Building on the previous transaction in 2015, this transaction further consolidates our debt at the EGA level, and strengthens our credit profile,” Danny Dweik, EGA’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.

EGA, the product of a merger between two state-owned aluminium companies – Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Aluminium in 2013 – is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala and state company Investment Corporation of Dubai.

A group of 25 international and regional banks participated in the deal, with Citi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, BNP Paribas, Emirates NBD, ING and Natixis working as coordinators, bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers.

“EGA has proactively taken advantage of strong market conditions, whereby there is significant bank appetite to lend to high quality companies with robust business performance,” said Naveed Kamal, Head of Middle East & North Africa Corporate Banking for Citi.

The loan was oversubscribed, with most banks having to reduce the amounts they had initially committed, he added.