Bank of China contributes to a $17 billion USD syndicated loan to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund for refinancing and general corporate purposes (Linked to Record ID#72239, #97610, #101263, and #101265)

Project narrative

On September 17, 2018, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 15 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $11 billion USD international syndicated loan facility agreement with Saudi United Investment Company — a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Saudi Government — for general corporate purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of five years and an interest rate based on LIBOR plus a margin of 75 basis points (bps). The proceeds of this loan were to be used for general corporate purposes. The Government of Saudi Arabia had charged PIF with facilitating its Vision 2030 reform plan to diversify the country's economy away from oil exports. This was PIF's first ever borrowing. Record ID#72239 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#97610 captures ICBC's contribution. Then, in November 2022, a syndicate of 25 banks — including the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the Bank of China (BOC), and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) — entered into a $17 billion USD syndicated senior term loan agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) — the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, owned and controlled by the Saudi Government and chaired by its Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman — for refinancing and for general corporate purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of seven years and was unsecured. The proceeds were to be used by PIF to repay early (refinance) the $11 billion USD five-year loan from 2018 and for general corporate purposes of PIF. Under the leadership of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, PIF was responsible for diversifying Saudi Arabia's economy away from crude oil sales, including through megaprojects as such as the proposed city of Neom; this debt was expected to help PIF finance projects of that ilk. Record ID#101263 captures ABC's contribution. Record ID#101264 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#101265 captures ICBC's contribution. In addition to the three Chinese state-owned banks, the following lenders are known to have contributed to the loan syndicate: Bank of America, BNP Paribas S.A., Citigroup, Crédit Agricole Group, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), HSBC Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC (ADCB), Barclays Bank Plc, Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., MUFG Bank, Ltd., National Bank of Kuwait S.A.K. (NBK), Banco Santander S.A., Standard Chartered Bank, and the State Bank of India (SBI). Bank of America served as coordinator. BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Crédit Agricole, FAB, HSBC, JPMorgan, Mizuho, and SMBC served as bookrunners. ABC, BOC, ICBC, ADCB, Barclays, Emirates NBD, Goldman Sachs, MUFG, NBK, Santander, Standard Chartered, and SBI served as mandated lead arrangers. PIF self-arranged the loan. The loan was twice oversubscribed in syndication.