PFZW inks $850m refinancing

Dubai's Port & Free Zone World (PFZW), the direct owner of global ports operator DP World, has signed an $850 million loan refinancing, two banking sources said on Tuesday.

The deal, which replaces a $1.15 billion facility which matures this month, was signed by 15 banks in total and was split almost evenly between a conventional tranche and a Shariah-compliant piece.

Citi, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD and HSBC underwrote the transaction before it was launched into syndication in July.

It had originally been a purely conventional loan but a Shariah-compliant tranche was added last month to tap liquidity within the Islamic banking sector, bankers said at the time.

The facility has a five-year amortising tenor and carried a margin of 350 basis points, said the sources speaking on condition of anonymity.

It replaces a three-year deal of which $850m was the remaining net amount.

State-owned conglomerate Dubai World is the parent company of PFZW, which owns 80.5 per cent of DP World.

PFZW was not immediately available for comment.

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