Qatar National Bank Closes Syndication Of $3bn Loan

Qatar National Bank (QNB) has closed syndication of a $3 billion, three-year unsecured term loan and will sign the deal on March 16, banking sources said.

Barclays Bank and HSBC are acting as coordinators on the deal, with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and SMBC acting as initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

QNB invited all of its relationship banks to join the deal, as well as a number of other banks in a one-phase syndication. They had their commitments scaled back after raising more than the target amount.

“QNB closed oversubscribed, it flew out the door,” said one banker on the deal.

The loan will pay a margin of around 60 basis points (bps) over Libor or an all in fee of 81.7 bps over Libor, bankers said previously.

The deal is QNB’s biggest syndicated loan to date, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data, and proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

QNB, the Gulf Arab states’ largest lender, was last in the market in 2012 when it raised a $1.8 billion, three-year loan that paid 100 bps over Libor.

Bookrunners on that deal were Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and Standard Chartered.

>Qatar National Bank could not be immediately contacted for comment.