Gulf International Bank B.S.C. (GIB) announced that Friday in London it signed a new syndicated term loan facility for US$1,200,000,000.
The facility was launched into syndication on 2nd April, 2007 for an amount of USD1 billion. The facility was extremely well received by the market and was oversubscribed to an amount of USD1.46 billion.
The facility was fully-underwritten and arranged by the following Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers: ABN Amro Bank N.V., Arab Bank plc, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Barclays Capital (the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC), Bayerische Landesbank, BNP Paribas, CALYON, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Europe Limited.
During the signing ceremony, Dr. Khaled M. Al-Fayez, GIB’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “we are pleased with the support we received from the international banking community. This loan is probably one of the largest loans arranged for a Middle Eastern bank and reflects the confidence in GIB’s strength and sound business strategy.”
Dr. Al-Fayez added that “GIB’s GCC-focused merchant banking strategy, which was adopted in 2002, has resulted in a significant improvement in the diversification and quality of its revenues and a substantial increase in net income and return on equity (ROE). Over the last four years, GIB has more than doubled its ROE, which rose to 14.3 per cent in 2006. The loan will be used to finance the Bank’s various activities.”
GIB is one of the largest regional banks in the GCC, with more than US$26.2 billion of its own assets and US$22 billion of clients’ assets under management. With a proven track record spanning more than 30 years, GIB provides client-led, innovative financial products and services to a wide customer base in the region, including investment banking, treasury services, asset management, project and structured finance, and Islamic banking.
