JEDDAH — The National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia’s largest bank by assets, has raised a three-year unsecured $1.05bn Murabaha term facility.

The first of a kind dual tranche transaction was structured to allow for flexibility on the lenders’ side, with consideration to new Shariah standards set by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).

The Initial mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and joint coordinators for the transaction were HSBC and Mizuho, with participation from a range of NCB's regional and international relationship banks.

NCB’s debut international syndicated term loan facility is also the largest Murabaha facility ever raised by a Saudi bank and represents an expansion in the bank’s funding strategy. Despite volatile market conditions the deal received strong interest. — SG