Bank of Sharjah raises Dh500m

Bank of Sharjah (BoS) on Wednesday said it had signed a $135 million (Dh500 million) club term loan facility with four banks.

Mandated Lead Arrangers include Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (also acting as Agent and Coordinator), National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Intesa SanPaolo and Wells Fargo Bank.

The two-year facility will be used by the bank for its general corporate purposes, specifically for US dollar denominated transactions.

The facility carries a margin of 1.5 per cent per annum, similar to the pricing applied to the one year term loan raised by the bank last year and fully repaid in July 2011. Bank of Sharjah was the only bank in the region to sign a loan with a syndicate of banks in 2010.

Varouj Nerguizian, Executive Director and General Manager, said: “Bank of Sharjah, with its corporate and investment profile, will further continue strengthening its balance sheet structures and ratios. The bank, although highly liquid, has arranged the US dollar denominated loan to mitigate its US dollar funding requirements. While the Bank recognises that, with money market rates at a historic low, the high liquidity ratios are affecting profitability, we will continue to adopt the same policy, that has proven to be the best strategy over the past 38 years to protect the interests of our shareholders, as well as customers.”

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.