Borse Dubai in talks for refinancing $3.78bn loan

Borse Dubai, the holding company for the Dubai Financial Markets and Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), has begun talks with banks over a syndicated loan that will refinance the company's $3.78 billion (Dh13.88bn) loan agreed in March to back its acquisition of Nordic exchanges group OMX, said banking sources.

The original financing, which matures on February 28, 2009, is split between a $2.226bn facility and a £796 million facility.

Borse Dubai and the Nasdaq Stock Market concluded a $4.9bn deal in February to buy OMX.

Borse Dubai, the holding company for Dubai's stock exchange business, is the latest in a long line of Dubai government-owned entities, known collectively as Dubai Inc, to approach the syndicated loan market for funds. Since June, Dubai Inc borrowers have agreed or are in the process of negotiating loans worth $16bn, including Investment Corporation of Dubai, Dubai World unit Port & Free Zone World, Dubai Financial, Dubai Holding, DIFC Investments, Nakheel, Dubai Drydocks and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise.

Dubai World subsidiary Dubai Drydocks, is set to close the syndication of its $2.2bn loan facility by September 19.

Earlier this month, a $6bn syndicated loan for state-owned Investment Corporation of Dubai has been launched to a wider syndication, banking sources said yesterday. The loan is split between a $3.75bn conventional financing and a $2.25bn Islamic financing.