Adnoc expected to sign $6b loan agreement this week

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc), the United Arab Emirates oil giant, is expected to sign by the end of this week a $6 billion loan which has received commitments from a group of 13 banks, sources close to the situation said on Sunday.

Adnoc, which manages almost all of the proven oil reserves in the UAE, is raising the financing as part of an overhaul of its capital structure which involves, among other things, additional debt raising exercises and the initial public offering of minority stakes in some of its units. BNP Paribas, Citi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and UniCredit, said one source close to the matter. nancing facilities earlier this year, in a sign that Middle East energy companies are rethinking their expansion strategies in an era of lower oil prices. A company controlled by Adnoc, the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, raised a debut bond of around $3 billion last month, attracting orders of over $11 billion while the deal was marketed.

Adnoc is also preparing an initial public offer of shares in its fuel retail business which could raise up to $2 billion, sources told Reuters.

It could list more than 10 per cent of its fuel retail business by early 2018. The $6 billion loan that Adnoc is expected to sign this week includes three-year and five-year tranches. Sources told Reuters last month that the facility offers an interest rate in the region of 50 basis points over London Interbank Offered Rates for the five-year tranche and 35 bps over Libor for the three-year tranche.