Emirates Steel bridge extension delayed until end of September

10 September 2009

State-owned steel company delays deadline to attract new lenders to $700m loan extension

Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Steel has had to delay signing an extension of its $700m bridge loan until the end of September in order to attract new lenders to its banking group.

The company is attempting to secure an extension of the loan until August 2010, at which point it wants to secure a $2bn long-term loan. The bridge loan expires in November.

“There are some additional banks looking to join the loan so we have had to delay signing the extension while new commitment levels of all the banks are agreed,” says a banker close to the deal.

The UK’s HSBC, France’s Natixis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Bahrain’s Arab Banking Corporation, Japan’s Mizuho, and Germany’s HVB/Unicredit Group financed the original bridge loan.

The original banking group priced the loan at 65 basis points above the London interbank offered rate (Libor).

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