The largest facility in the market is a $300 million loan for Arab Banking Corporation (ABC). Bids were due on 9 September for the position of mandated lead arranger (MLA).

ABC is itself one of the MLAs on a $150 million facility for Doha Bank, along with Barclays Capital, Calyonand National Bank of Abu Dhabi. The syndicated loan has a tenor of five years and has a step-up structure, starting at 40 basis points (bp) for the first three years and rising to 42.5 bp for the final two. The funds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Four MLAs have been appointed for a three-year, $100 million financing for First Gulf Bank. They are Calyon, Gulf International Bank, Standard Chartered Bankand Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

In Oman, Bank Muscatand West LBhave been mandated to lead arrange a $40 million syndicated loan for Alliance Housing Bank. Syndication is due to be launched imminently.

The three-year facility will be used for general corporate funding purposes.

Standard Chartered was lead arranger for the Gulf Air trade financing, which was closed in July and signed in late August. The five-year facility was priced at 100 bp and was raised in size from $50 million due to oversubscription.