Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and Calyon as mandated lead arrangers have closed a US$150mn syndicated wakala restricted with commodity murabaha financing facility for Kazakhstan’s Alliance Bank. Calyon acted as bookrunner and wakil in connection and ADIB acted as shari”a advisor.

 

The transaction was launched at US$50mn to a group of banks invited for take and hold tickets. The facility comprises two tranches, Tranche A with a maturity of 370 days and Tranche B with a maturity of two years. Banks were invited to participate in one or both tranches at their discretion.

 

The syndication was closed three times oversubscribed, and Alliance elected to increase the facility amount from US$50mn to US$150mn – US$85mn in Tranche A and US$65mn in Tranche B.

 

Proceeds will be used to promote and finance Alliance Bank’s Islamic trade finance activities.

 

With this syndication, Alliance Bank has seen by far the largest investor base for an Islamic financing for a Kazakh bank with a total of 19 banks joining the facility, 12 of which are new to Alliance Bank and two of which are new to the Kazakh market.

 

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank joined Calyon and ADIB at the top-tier MLA level..

 

Alliance Bank is one of the country’s leading banks and is rated Ba2 by Moody’s (positive outlook) and BB- by Fitch (stable outlook).