11 August – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Linklaters has advised lenders on term loan facilities totalling US$1.98bn for four Saudi financial institutions. The deals were debut financings for each of the borrowers in the international syndicated loan market and have contributed to establishing the market for loans to Saudi financial institutions.
The four deals were:
US$600m facility for Samba Financial Group (Citibank, N.A. and J.P. Morgan plc as arrangers and bookrunners and Citibank, N.A., J.P. Morgan plc, Arab National Bank, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Gulf International Bank B.S.C., Qatar National Bank S.A.Q. and Standard Chartered Bank as mandated lead arrangers)
US$350m facility for Arab National Bank (J.P. Morgan plc as arranger and bookrunner and Deutsche Bank AG, Gulf International Bank B.S.C., J.P. Morgan plc and Riyad Bank as mandated lead arrangers)
US$650m facility for Banque Saudi Fransi (CALYON, Citibank, N.A. and Deutsche Bank AG as bookrunners and CALYON, Citibank, N.A., Deutsche Bank AG, Gulf International Bank B.S.C., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited, ING Bank N.V. and Standard Chartered Bank as mandated lead arrangers)
US$380m facility for The Saudi Investment Bank (Citibank, N.A. as bookrunner and underwriter and Citibank, N.A., Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited as mandated lead arrangers)
The credit agreements each included representation and covenant packages to reflect the Saudi legal environment and to accommodate the operational requirements of the borrowers.
The Linklaters’ team of Andrew Forde and Mirthe van Kesteren was led by banking partner Stephen Lucas.
Stephen Lucas, banking partner, commented:
“These four debut transactions in Saudi Arabia reflect our ongoing commitment to jurisdictions in the Middle East and set the benchmark for future deals.”
