Dubai International Capital raises USD600 million syndicated loan facilities

The facility was fully underwritten by CALYON of France, who also acts as Facility Agent, and the UAE's Mashreqbank.

DIC, which manages an international portfolio of diverse assets and direct investments, will use a proportion of the loan to partly finance its recent $1.3 billion acquisition of Travelodge Hotels, the leading UK based budget hotel chain.

As Mandated Lead Arrangers, CALYON and Mashreqbank launched the loan syndication in September. The syndication was oversubscribed and closed with 18 banks joining the facility at various levels.

"DIC is very pleased with the positive response from the international financial community," said Anand Krishnan, Chief Financial Officer of DIC.

The facility is proposed to be utilized by DIC for general corporate purposes and is divided into a term loan of US$400 million and a revolving credit facility of US$200 million.

"The Dubai Holding Group is a key relationship for Mashreqbank and we have supported Dubai International Capital in its previous acquisitions. This is a successful syndication and is very important for Mashreqbank and our client. We were very pleased to work with CALYON in this landmark syndication and the alliance proved to be highly successful,"

said Omar Bouhadiba, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking Group, Mashreqbank.

"Dubai International Capital (DIC) and Dubai Holding (DH) are highly valued clients of CALYON both in the region as well as abroad. DIC has been a pioneer in the region in terms of investing in private equity opportunities outside of the Middle East. We are delighted to have been appointed, jointly with Mashreqbank, to assist DIC and DH with the financing of such an important acquisition" said Albert Momdjian, Managing Director, Head of Middle East and Africa Investment Banking, CALYON.