UAE's Mubadala secures $1bn to fund Zayed University

ABU DHABI // Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Development Company said on Wednesday it secured a $1 billion financing for the Zayed University project. The public-private partnership (PPP) project involves the construction of a new university campus for 6000 students in Abu Dhabi, and is the fourth such infrastructure financing, Mubadala said in a statement. The 10-year debt, a combination of conventional, Islamic and mezzanine debt was secured from a consortium of 11 local and international banks.

The senior debt margins start at 290 basis points (bps) over the base rate with step ups to 390 bps at maturity. "Mubadala has a strong pipeline of transactions and we will continue to focus on broadening the range of debt instruments used to finance future projects, particularly in light of the more constrained nature of the long-term bank financing market," said Derek Rozycki, executive director, project & corporate finance, Mubadala.

Calyon acted as financial advisor. Lead arrangers included National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, First Gulf Bank, Union National Bank, Natixis, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale, Calyon, BIIS and BTMU. Abu Dhabi's Al Hilal Bank provided the Islamic tranche. Mubadala has recently appointed financial advisors for two more projects - the Tawam hospital and Strata Composites, the statement said.

*Reuters