Saudi Aramco has signed a new $10 billion standby revolving credit facilities agreement as part of the company’s strategy of maintaining financial flexibility.

The agreement replaces the existing $4 billion facilities agreement, which was signed in 2010.

The facilities are divided into US dollar (USD) and Saudi Riyal (SR) tranches broken down as follows:
• $7 billion, of which $6 billion is a five-year facility with two one-year extension options (5+1+1) and $1 billion is an annually-renewable 364-day facility.
• SR11.25 billion ($3 billion) consisting of Murabaha facilities, of which SR7.5 billion ($2 billion) is a five-year facility with two one-year extension options (5+1+1) and SR3.75 billion ($1 billion) is an annually-renewable 364-day facility.

The terms of the new facilities reflect Saudi Aramco’s strong credit standing, a company statement said. The margin for the USD Facilities is 12 and 10 basis points (bps) for the five-year and 364-day facilities respectively, while the margin for the $3 billion Murabaha facilities is 11 and 9 bps for the five-year and 364-day Facilities respectively. This pricing sets a benchmark in the kingdom and the region and reflects the banking community’s continuing confidence in Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabia.

The $7 billion tranche participants are Bank of China Limited (London Branch), Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Bank Middle East, JPMorgan Chase Bank (Riyadh Branch), Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and The Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi UFJ  as book runners and mandated lead arrangers; BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Mizuho Bank and RBC Capital Markets as lead arrangers; and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, ANZEF Limited, Gulf International Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, National Bank of Kuwait (Jeddah Branch), The Northern Trust Company, and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking as Arrangers.

The $3 billion Saudi Riyal Murabaha tranche participants are Alinma Bank, Riyad Bank, and The National Commercial Bank as Book Runners and Mandated Lead Arrangers; Banque Saudi Fransi, SAMBA Financial Group and The Saudi British Bank (SABB) as Lead Arrangers;  and Arab National Bank and Saudi Hollandi Bank as arrangers.

Riyad Bank was selected as both the global facilities agent and murabaha facilities agent, while The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ was selected as the USD facilities agent. HSBC, JPMorgan Chase Bank  and Riyad Bank were appointed as Global Coordinators. Samba Financial Group and SMBC acted as documentation coordinators on the Murabaha and USD facilities, while White & Case acted as legal counsel to Saudi Aramco and Clifford Chance as lenders’ legal counsel. - TradeArabia News Service