QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, has witnessed "substantial" oversubscription to its global dual tranche $3.5bn unsecured term loan facility, the largest five-year syndication ever issued in the Middle East for a bank.
The syndication was well supported by 34 international banks with substantial oversubscription, said a QNB spokesman.
"This tranche attracted the interest of global banks and helped us further broaden our investor base. The issuance was substantially oversubscribed which, despite the challenges of Covid-19, demonstrates our standing as a high quality issuer," said QNB’s Group chief executive Abdulla Mubarak al-Khalifa.
This transaction, which is seen as a confirmation of its successful strategy of becoming a leading bank in the Middle East Africa and South East Asia, included $2bn three-year and $1.5bn five-year tranches, and will be used for general corporate purposes.
The syndication was fully underwritten by HSBC Bank Middle East; Mizuho Bank; Bank of America Merrill Lynch International Designated Activity Company; Barclays Bank; MUFG Bank; Maybank Kim Eng Securities; Standard Chartered Bank; SMBC Bank International and United Overseas Bank.
The initial mandated lead arrangers included J P Morgan Securities and Intesa Sanpaolo, Qatar Financial Centre branch, along with the underwriters. HSBC was mandated as the documentation co-ordinator while Mizuho was mandated as the syndication coordinator and facility agent.