Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), a leading international aluminium smelter, has announced the successful closing for its landmark syndicated term-loan facility, the first tranche of the company’s funding plan for the Line 6 Project.

Alba’s original target for the syndicated loan was to raise between $500 million and $750 million. However, due to heavy over subscription, Alba decided to upsize the loan to $1.5 billion making it the largest corporate loan in the history of Bahrain, said a statement from the company.  

The $1.5 billion carries an interest margin of 325 basis point per annum over the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). This facility has a seven-year tenor and the principal amount will be repaid in eight semi-annual instalments and includes a three-year grace period on principal payments to support the Line 6 construction period, it said.

This facility comprises 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, it added.

Commenting on the successful raising of the loan tranche, Alba’s chairman Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “The success of the Line 6 syndicated loan facility underscores our company’s strong business fundamentals and the confidence the financial markets have in the Line 6 Expansion Project.

“We look forward to the full execution of the Line 6 project which upon completion will make us the largest single site smelter in the world,” he said.

Gulf International Bank, J P Morgan Limited, and National Bank of Bahrain acted as global coordinators to assist Alba in arranging the facilities, said a statement.

The group of mandated lead arrangers and book runners consists of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, Arab Banking Corporation, ABC Islamic Bank, Gulf International Bank, Ahli United Bank, National Bank of Bahrain, BBK and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, it said.

The group of lead arrangers consists of The Saudi National Commercial Bank, Riyad Bank, National Bank of Kuwait - Bahrain Branch, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (Bahrain Branch), it added.

The group of arrangers consists of Burgan Bank, Noor Bank, Mashreqbank, Bahrain Islamic Bank, Arab Bank – retail branch, Al Baraka Islamic Bank, Bank of Baroda and Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (Bahrain Branch) acted as the global and conventional agent while Riyad Bank acted as the Islamic agent.

Expected to start metal production in early 2019, Line 6 Expansion Project will boost the per-annum production by 540,000 tonnes upon its full ramp-up, bringing Alba’s total production capacity to 1,500,000 tonnes per annum to make Alba the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service