The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), a multilateral development financial institution in Africa, has announced the conclusion of its US$272m and €160.2m (combined US$450m equivalent) multi-tranche syndicated term financing (conventional and Islamic). The transaction follows and upsizes TDB’s debut Middle East-focused Conventional and Islamic syndication that was signed in December 2017.

The facilities are comprised of two-year and three-year bullet repayment tranches, as well as conventional and Islamic tranches, and have been funded in US dollars and euros. Proceeds of the facilities will be utilised for refinancing purposes and for meeting TDB’s trade financing and general corporate requirements.

Citi, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, Mashreqbank psc and MUFG Bank acted as the mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners on the transaction.

Additionally, Mashreqbank acted as the structuring bank and documentation agent, Emirates NBD Capital acted as the marketing and roadshow agent, and First Abu Dhabi Bank acted as the global agent, conventional facility agent and the investment (Islamic) agent in relation to the facilities.

The transaction was initially launched at US$250m equivalent to investors across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and has received a strong response from the market. As a result, facilities were oversubscribed by 1.8 times and featured participation from 20 banks across the GCC with commitments aggregating to around the equivalent of US$702m.

While TDB has regularly tapped the global syndicated loan markets in the past, this transaction represents another milestone in the expansion of its growing investor base in the Middle East through a longer dated issuance and helped TDB successfully tap into the Islamic liquidity available in the region.

TDB president and chief executive, Admassu Tadesse, stated that “the overwhelming response in the facility from Middle Eastern and international banks confirms increasing interest in our African region and reflects the growing levels of confidence in TDB and its financial credibility, following years of strong performance, coupled with higher levels of capitalisation and its re-confirmed investment grade status from Moody’s.”