The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) has secured an inaugural AED500mn (US$136mn) syndicated loan led by Dubai-headquartered lender Mashreq.
The facility is the TDB’s first dirham-denominated syndicated loan deal, and will provide access to an “evolving, dynamic and deep AED liquidity pool”, the development finance bank says.
By diversifying funding sources and broadening its investor base, TDB says the facility will expand its capacity to support trade in strategic commodities across its member states.
It will also help TDB develop relationships with lenders “with unique lending considerations”, it adds.
Mashreq acted as sole coordinator, initial mandated lead arranger, bookrunner and facility agent, with six other financial institutions joining as lenders.
The facility has a tenor of one year with an extension option, and will be used for general corporate purposes.
Mashreq has previously acted as initial mandated lead arranger for several TDB transactions, raising more than US$4bn over the last decade.
The deal marks the latest in a series of trade-related facilities agreed by TDB this year, including an unfunded risk participation agreement with the African Development Bank and a US$359mn credit enhancement facility with the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.
In June, it became the first financial institution to secure cover under Italian export credit agency Sace’s Push programme, obtaining a €100mn facility provided by Citi and SMBC.
