Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), a leading aluminium smelter, has announced commitments of $1.5 billion for the commercial loan facility to finance the company’s Line 6 expansion project.

Alba had originally planned to raise between $500 million and $750 million but increased the commercial loan facility size to $1.5 billion due to heavy oversubscription which resulted in competitive market terms.

The $1.5 billion commercial facility will carry an interest margin of 325 basis point per annum over the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). This facility is expected to have a seven-year tenor and the principal amount repayable in eight semi-annual instalments, including a three-year grace period on principal payments to support the Line 6 construction period, Alba said.
 
The commercial loan facility will comprise two tranches: a US dollar-denominated senior unsecured conventional term-loan facility (the Conventional Facility) of $882 million and a US dollar-denominated senior Shari’ah-compliant facility (the Islamic Facility) of $618 million.
 
Alba's chairman Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “We are pleased with the success of these landmark commitments, which will be the largest syndicated loan structure in the history of the Kingdom of Bahrain. This clearly reflects the overwhelming support towards the Line 6 Expansion Project, which is one of the biggest mega projects in Bahrain and the GCC. The overwhelming demand is a testament to Alba’s solid balance sheet and the strong underlying fundamentals of the Line 6 Expansion Project.”
 
Gulf International Bank, J P Morgan Limited, and National Bank of Bahrain are acting as global coordinators to assist Alba in arranging the commercial loan facility.
 
Expected to start metal production in early 2019, Line 6 Expansion Project will boost the per-annum production by 540,000 metric tonnes upon its full ramp-up, bringing Alba’s total production capacity to 1,500,000 metric tonnes per annum to make Alba the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter. - TradeArabia News Service