Dubai Aerospace to add dirham tranche to $1bn loan

03 September 2008
Banks involved in the Dubai Aerospace $1bn three-year syndicated loan have started talks on adding a dirham-denominated tranche to the deal, to boost demand for the debt.

The deal is being led by Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Lloyds TSB. It had been the only agreement one among a series of recent debt-raising deals by Dubai government-related entities that did not include a local currency tranche at launch.

Among the other deals, the $2.2bn Dubai Drydocks and $1.25bn Ports and Free Zone World deals both gave banks the opportunity to commit in dollars or dirhams. Both of these deals, which launched in July, are expected to close by mid-September.

“It has been difficult for these deals as there is so much Dubai debt out in the market at the moment. They need to attract as many liquidity sources as possible,” says one banker.

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