The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) today mandated a group of six Saudi Arabian banks to act as leading responsible parties for a new SR6 billion structured term loan facility with a tenor of 15 years. Although the loan is denominated in Saudi Riyals, the terms agree to provide for inclusion of an optional US Dollar facility of up to $300 million. SEC will use the facility primarily to support its ongoing capital expenditure programme.
Chief Executive Officer of SEC Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Qadi said: “We are delighted to have secured this loan facility, which is the first major new facility to be sought by SEC since its formation on 5 April 2000. In seeking the loan, we recognized that we were challenging the banking community to support the future development of our business in an evolving regulatory environment, while also setting new precedents in terms of the tenor and size of loans of this type. Overall, we firmly believe that this loan represents the best possible value to SEC, whilst also representing a fair deal for all of the banks involved.”
The six mandated banks are: Banque Saudi-Fransi; SAMBA Financial Group; The National Commercial Bank; Arab National Bank; The Saudi-British Bank; and Saudi-Hollandi Bank. The SEC Financial Advisor is Gulf International Bank.
The loan has been structured to reflect the strength of SEC cash flow relative to its ongoing capital expenditure requirements. In the process, careful attention has also been paid to ensuring that SEC will have flexibility to develop its business in line with the expected direction of regulatory planning for the Kingdom’s electricity sector.
Source: SPA
