ICBC contributes to EUR 2 billion syndicated loan to Qatar National Bank for refinancing purposes

Project narrative

On March 6, 2019, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) contributed to a EUR 2 billion senior unsecured term loan facility to Qatar National Bank (QNB) for the refinancing of a previous EUR 2.25 billion loan (captured in Record ID#98836). The loan had a maturity date of three (3) years and had an interest rate of 90bps (0.9%) plus contemporary EURIBOR. Commitment fees were set at 70bps (0.7%) The management fee for was 60bps (0.6%) mandated lead arrangers contributing EUR 300 million or higher, 50bps (0.5%) for lead arrangers contributing EUR 200 million or higher, 40bps (0.4%) for arrangers with contributing EUR 100 million or higher, and 30bps (0.3%) for managers contributing less than EUR 100 million. Known members of the syndicate included Crédit Agricole, Intesa Sanpaolo, Société Générale, and UniCredit as mandated lead arrangers (MLAs) and underwriters, and Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC) and ING Bank N.V. as additional mandated lead arrangers (MLAs). Société Générale was documentation agent and facility agent. A further twelve (12) unknown banks were lenders in the syndicate, bringing the total number of banks involved to eighteen (18). QNB's initial offering was heavily oversubscribed up to EUR 3.5 billion, but was later scaled down to EUR 2 billion. The surprising enthusiasm from lenders was in spite of the contemporary political and economic crisis in Qatar due to the Gulf Cooperation Council-led (CCB) economic blockade of the country.