UAB signs Dh367m Murabaha syndication deal

United Arab Bank (UAB) has completed a 3-year syndicated Murabaha facility worth $100 million (Dh367 million) with four banks based in the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait, said a press statement on Tuesday.

The Murabaha deal is the first Islamic syndication completed by UAB.

Al Hilal Bank, headquartered in the UAE, served as the Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner for the deal, while the Arab Banking Corporation, headquartered in Bahrain and Sharjah Islamic Bank, were the other Mandated Lead Arrangers. The National Bank of Kuwait also served as a Lead Arranger.

The syndicated Murabaha facility which has been taken out for general corporate purposes, was almost twice oversubscribed.

The appetite of banks across the region to participate in this club deal underlines UAB’s exceptional recent financial performance. The bank sustained the pace of a record-breaking 35 per cent surge in net profits over the course of 2013 with a 34 per cent year-on-year profit rise in the first quarter of 2014.

This syndicated facility is the second for UAB in a matter of months.

At the end of last year, the bank signed a $250m 2-year loan facility with a syndicate of 12 multinational and regional banks. This, too, was heavily oversubscribed, receiving more than double the subscriptions above its original $200m target.

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